This paper uses business management analysis to review the belief systems that have dominated educational research in the past and those that dominate today. Examples of current beliefs which lead educational research into unproductive channels are given. Developing useful myths is discussed. (Author/MT)

Noting that analogy is widely considered to be an important mechanism of scientific thinking and a source of creative insight in theory development, this report considers the implicit constraints that determine analogical soundness. The report first examines the constraints that govern analogical reasoning as it is predicated currently. The report…

Argues that science teaching has suffered because science has been frequently presented as ready-made knowledge with subject matter of facts and laws, rather than as an effective method of inquiry into any subject matter. Reprint of 1910 address to the 1909 American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference. (JRH)

Discusses conditions in the field of sociology including new opportunities to serve in large governmental programs, criticism of sociology as a science, and sociologists' difficulties in communicating and applying knowledge. Offers suggestions for developing a science of sociology. (LFL)

Uses metaphorical analysis to determine whether or not Max Planck invented the quantum postulate. Demonstrates how metaphorical analysis can be used to analyze the rhetoric of revolutionary texts in science. Concludes that, in his original 1900 quantum paper, Planck considered the quantum postulate to be important, but not revolutionary. (PA)

Argues that London newspaper satirists are important in the history of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection: (1) they were among the interpreters of a paradigm shift in biology from the older idealist thinking to the newer empiricist thinking and (2) they simplified the idealist-empiricist issue by making it more accessible to the general…

The history of the scientific study of educational problems in France is discussed. The educational sciences derive their methods of research from almost all contemporary scientific disciplines. (RM)

Explains the theory of noosphere developed by Soviet academician Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. States that this theory is based on a new morality concerning the unity of humanity and its responsibility for the fate of the planet. (GG)

Traces the evolution of the discourse about pedagogy from the seventeenth century, when pedagogy was oriented toward instructional improvement; to the twentieth century, when faculties of education became more interested in producing scientific research than research that was relevant to the practice of teaching. Elaborates a new theory of…

This paper explores whether phenomenology, in general, and the case of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's phenomenological optics in particular, provides a case and a location for "minimal realism," located between the extreme positions of absolute scientific realists and "radical rhetoricians." The paper begins with a description of…

In an effort to deal with a single aspect of a multifaceted interaction between technical and social discourse, this essay examines the movement of scientific discourse between the realms of politics and science. The paper addresses the effects on scientific methodology wrought by the Nazi employment of science as a basis for racial politics. The…

Analogy is widely considered to be an important mechanism of scientific thinking and a source of creative insight in theory development. In this paper the implicit constraints that determine analogical soundness are considered. It first examines the constraints that govern analogical reasoning as it is predicted today. The scientific uses of…

Barnes, an educator and textbook author, was a pioneer in the use of inquiry to teach secondary school history. Her work is criticized for the indoctrination it entailed and for its failure to encourage students to identify and examine the spiritual and political premises underlying the historical framework Barnes presented. (IAH)

Examines the rise of the general science course and its implications for the reform of secondary science education. Concludes that while recent reforms emphasize the personal and social character of science and the use of the scientific method, they will not necessarily make students more scientifically literate or train them to think about…

There has been a substantial growth in the number of scientific studies in education from the empirical and experimental points of view. The scientific method which for the past decade has been most prominently associated with investigations in educational psychology is also being applied with increasing success to costs and finance, buildings,…