This study presents evidence to substantiate the hypothesis that an important relationship exists between prior knowledge and resulting cognitive structure subsequent to instruction; and thus that relevant existing cognitive structure is an important variable affecting learning. The subjects were 126 first-grade students. Relevant existing…

A model of curriculum and instruction that synthesizes several theories is presented. This curriculum and instruction model is placed within a broad epistemological-psychological framework that can help to guide theoreticians and practitioners in education. (CJ)

This paper outlines two alternate ways in which concepts are acquired, known as "top down" and "bottom up". "Bottom up" refers to learning the members of a category and then extracting their similarities or differences, the rule or criterial attributes used to make the categorization. In the "top down"…