The present crisis in education is so severe that to return to the "basics," or simply to improve the standard approach to instruction, will only make the situation worse. Missing is a recognition of the importance of the imagination in the learning process. I. A. Richards (1925) has identified six distinct aspects of the imagination: (1) the…

A study was designed to test the hypothesis that a descriptive-type learning cycle was insufficient to stimulate students to reason at a reflective level or to develop an understanding of, and facility with, the processes of scientific investigation. In order to test the hypothesis, four classes of ninth-grade physical science students (n=100)…

This report examines the relationship between attributions that explain the present by examining past behaviors and those that examine current behaviors to predict and control future behaviors. A fundamental difference is proposed between students who are high versus low in academic need achievement. The high achievement student is described as…

This review of the effective schools literature focuses on six teaching factors: the nature of instructional materials, lower versus higher order skills, classroom reinforcement practices, teacher selection, teacher training, and individual versus whole-group instruction. Different from earlier studies, the review concentrates on specific…

Through the process of clinical supervision, systematic approaches permit effective change by the collaborative analysis of teaching. This guide's first section, "Beginnings," describes the process of clinical supervision. Emphasis is upon teachers working collaboratively to discover implicit teaching messages and to assimilate new…

The three chapters of this handbook are designed to insure that any school can use teacher-made tests and performance assessments as components of a learning assessment plan. Focus is on criterion-referenced achievement tests developed in Illinois for assessing the cognitive and psychomotor domains of learning. The initial chapter is designed for…

Many researchers believe that prior knowledge is the single most important variable influencing learning. Learning in the classroom is determined or affected positively or negatively, to some degree, by the knowledge people bring to the classroom. This study was designed to: (1) assess fifth- and eighth-grade Korean students' misconceptions of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reading achievement as a function of home media environment and orientations toward learning; (2) reading ability and offense categories of delinquents; (3)…

The use of microcomputers and courseware for native language instruction is discussed. Five dimensions of instruction that are helpful in evaluating microcomputer use are examined: (1) student motivation; (2) educational objectives; (3) the appropriateness of the computer and related software as instructional tools; (4) the learning model…

A new framework for designing qualitative studies is described to optimize the emergence, representation and presentation of insights. The framework, called Reflection Methodology, is presented as a "Conversational Paradigm" that includes four components--interviewer (researcher as participant); child, task situation, and observing…

Evidence suggests that instruction in thinking skills is neither widespread nor successful. Most students do not score well on tests that measure their ability to recognize assumptions, evaluate arguments, or appraise inferences. However, a number of educators believe that it is possible to teach thinking skills, and have suggested that the…

Data analyses and interpretation are presented in this report on data obtained from "A Study of Schooling." For this study, data were collected from elementary, junior, and senior high schools (a total of 38 schools) through the use of classroom observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The data discussed in this report is concerned with…

The result of an international symposium conducted in Canada, this book contains articles by experts in the fields of anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and education on the subject of preschool children and literacy. The book is divided into three sections dealing with literacy and culture, learning to be literate, and literacy and…

The past 20 years have seen research on language acquisition in the cognitive sciences grow immensely. The current paper offers a fairly extensive review of this literature, arguing that new cognitive theories and empirical data are perfectly consistent with core predictions a behavior analytic approach makes about language development. The review…

We examine the role of culture--anthropology's essential concept--in teaching and learning. After providing a brief overview of the application of anthropology to research on teaching and learning, we examine various studies that demonstrate how culture can be understood and used as a resource for teaching and learning. In particular, we focus on…