This second volume of selected readings is designed to accompany Video Conferences 5-9 in the series "Restructuring to Promote Learning in America's Schools." The readings in this volume explore several key issues in school restructuring. Four sections include: (1) Schools as Learning Communities; (2) Many Roads to Fundamental Reform:…

Educators, scholars, and researchers in the United States convened at the Forum on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education to discuss how, when, and even if science, mathematics, and technology should be taught to pre-kindergarten children. The product of that forum, this book summarizes some of the latest thinking about…

This book contains readings supplement information provided by a group of principals, teachers, and researchers participating in the U.S. Department of Education's National Satellite Teleconference, "Students at the Center." The March 1998 broadcast shared key findings on planning, implementing, and sustaining comprehensive school…

This book extends the ideas of the competency and quality movements in higher education to definitions of learning outcomes that deal with an unknown future, and to accountability as a consequence rather than a focus. It argues that ways of teaching (bringing learning about), assessment (finding out what has been learned), and university…

The role of discourse in education, specifically in the science classroom, is discussed. The discussion is based on the idea that talk in the classroom is not an end in itself but a means for inquiry, exploration, even activity, and expression of concepts. A framework for analysis of classroom discourse is outlined. In this approach, discourse is…

This book presents issues concerning relationships between mathematical knowledge and the teaching and learning processes, focusing especially on the genesis of mathematical knowledge in the classroom. The chapter titles are: (1) The Fragility of Knowledge (Guy Brousseau and Michael Otte); (2) The Double Bind as a Didactical Trap (Stieg…

In learning environments which provide little structure (e.g., hypermedia systems) students have an especially strong need to regulate and control their own learning. However, a review of the literature indicates that merely providing learners with flexible learning environments does not necessarily mean that they will effectively explore and…

A model for analyzing classroom interaction is presented. The model focuses on two issues: management of turn-taking and the relationship between ways of interacting and outcome of the teaching/learning process. Turn-taking is seen as one element of conversational style, in which speakers signal degree of involvement by using different linguistic…

A study investigated children's use of three acoustic parameters (intensity, fundamental frequency, and duration) in the production of two-syllable nonsense words. Subjects were six children each at ages 2, 3, and 4 years with age-appropriate language skills and normal hearing sensitivity. An examiner produced eight novel two-syllable words of…

Educational measurement is presented as integral to the process of entering into and guiding conversations in which teachers and students participate. A measurement model patterned on the playful, interactive back-and-forth motion of conversation could aid in overcoming problems in teacher-student interactions. According to H. G. Gadamer,…

The difference between phrogfessors and teachers is that phrogfessors train tadpoles in the way of the swamp (i.e., create likenesses of themselves) while teachers produce people and thereby help to drain the swamp. Phrogfessors take responsibility for what their students learn. They believe that if a student does badly, it is the phrogfessor's…

The relationship of several individual difference variables to achievement in college courses was investigated, using a sample of 500 freshmen and sophomores taking introductory psychology. (Editor)

Three tentative conclusions are drawn: personality factors of black students are perceived differently by different groups in sample, styles of perception exist, and that if education is to be void of excessive conflicts, affective objectives must be dealt with. (Author/AM)

This study investigated the influence of classroom noise and two methods of presentation upon the rate at which kindergarten children learned four dissimilar words. (Editor)