One hundred and forty students in grades 6 and 7 were asked to process 32 science statements. Half of the statements were consistent with their prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Half of the students were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining students were…

Ways that teacher educators can provide opportunities for novice teachers to develop their beliefs about teaching and learning and their teaching practices are discussed. It is suggested that practical teaching experience is essential to teacher development, but that teachers must also be able to process their experiences in ways that allow time…

This study reports the efforts of the Water and Molecular Networks Project (WAMNet), a program in which high school chemistry students use computer simulations developed at Boston University (Massachusetts) to model the three-dimensional structure of molecules and the hydrogen bond network that holds water molecules together. This case study…

This monograph gives an account of three associated studies of the professional craft knowledge of teachers as articulated by 20 teachers in 4 secondary schools in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales, Australia. Participants were chosen on the basis of: (1) student identification of their best teachers and (2) equal representation from three…

This curriculum guide contains materials for a 1-semester high school course designed to introduce students at the 9th or 10th grade level to technology in the workplace. The course gives students hands-on experiences, knowledge about changes in the workplace, and exploration of career opportunities associated with those changes. The nine units of…

This document consists of a selection of the best articles previously published in the "Harvard Education Letter." It contains the following articles (without citing the issue in which they originally appeared): (1) "School-Parent Relationships that Work: An Interview with James Comer"; (2) "Unpopular Children"; (3)…

This collection of original papers synthesizes research on learning disabilities in school-age children, with the theme of connecting learning disabilities research with assessment and practice. The volume begins with a paper by Howard S. Adelman titled "Learning Disabilities: On Interpreting Research Translations." Part I of the…

Four papers follow and document the progress of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing in understanding questions related to alternative assessment based on case studies in three elementary schools. The research questions include consideration of the logistical constraints that must be respected in developing…

This book examines embedded support in course material. The focus is on self-study and associated concepts such as independent learning, distance education, and open education, and the general context is adult and higher education. The seven chapters cover: (1) general introductory material, including a description of the future, distance…

This study examined the presence of Ely's conditions that facilitate innovation, as reported by Internet-using teachers in leading-edge schools. The conditions that make up the framework are: (1) dissatisfaction with the status quo; (2) existence of knowledge and skills; (3) availability of resources; (4) availability of time; (5) existence of…

This curriculum guide was developed for a 150-week worker-centered, holistic course in language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) for workers at the Juno Lighting plant in Chicago, many of whom are immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and other Latin American countries. The curriculum is a guide to lesson planning and topic…

This paper provides an overview of five innovative projects involving network learning technologies in the United States: (1) the MicroObservatory Internet Telescope is a collection of small, high-quality, and low-maintenance telescopes operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Massachusetts), which may be used remotely via the…

This review examines all data-based ecologically valid studies published in "Learning Disability Quarterly" or "Journal of Learning Disabilities" that addressed reading instruction and were published from 1980 to 1990. It first looks at studies focusing on comprehension, including such reader factors as prior knowledge, metacognition, and visual…

This report presents four studies summarizing results of Project SEARCH, which attempted to identify characteristics of children at risk, apply risk analysis procedures, and identify effective educational practices. The first study examined the presence or absence of risk factors in 25 first graders (and 10 controls) referred by their teachers to…

The Support Teacher Program is a professional development program created to increase teachers' mathematical knowledge, improve instructional practices for conceptual understanding, and prepare teachers to conduct staff development activities in their schools with their colleagues. This paper is presented in three sections. The first section…