Thinking about knowledge and knowing ("i.e.", epistemic cognition) is an important part of student learning and has implications for how they apply their knowledge in future courses, careers, and other aspects of their lives. Three classes of models have emerged from research on epistemic cognition: developmental models, dimensional…

Students often have difficulty learning from texts and lectures because information is commonly organized in blocks or lines that obscure important relationships among ideas. This article introduces graphic ways to display information so that relationships are apparent and easily learned.

This paper addresses some fundamental methodological and ethical issues confronting non-Chinese researchers undertaking research in Hong Kong Chinese society. Among other things, it considers problems pertaining to data collection, the challenges of data interpretation, and the implication that this has for research. Whilst the issues are by no…

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse and evaluate the transfer process of codified knowledge (CK) performed under two different approaches: the "socio-technical" and the "top-down". It is argued that the socio-technical approach supports the transfer of CK better than the top-down approach. Design/methodology/approach: Case study methodology was…

Competition for scarce resources causes institutions to become more similar because the uniform environmental conditions of competition bring forth similar responses. Consequently, there is a convergence of institutional function structures elsewhere. National higher education systems worldwide have been moving from a specialized regime towards an…

A nontechnical exposition of graph theory is presented, followed by survey of the literature on applications of graph theory in research in education and related disciplines. Applications include order-theoretic studies of the dimensionality of data sets, the investigation of hierarchical structures in various domains, and cluster analysis.…

A logically and empirically valid structure of knowledge for differential calculus was made by textbook analysis and by collecting data from a first semester college calculus course. (MP)

White and Gagne's method (EJ 180 555) for formatively evaluating learning hierarchies does not require participants to be taught the content prior to testing them for their knowledge of the skills in the hierarchy. By simply determining the percentage of students achieving each skill, the researcher obtains approximately the same information.…

The need for developing a geometry curriculum sequence is discussed. Work by a group of about 50 mathematics educators on intuitive aspects of Euclidean classifications and relations is presented. Textbooks were analyzed, a sequence of concept clusters developed, and a scope-and-sequence chart included. (MNS)

This paper reviews instructional theory and research relating to three design criteria: (1) the order of presentation of instruction (sequencing); (2) the kinds of content relationships that should be taught; and (3) the way content relationships should be taught (synthesis). Also research on the relations between sequencing and synthesis is…

Describes a study of teachers as curriculum developers in a broad organizational setting. Identifies three themes that shaped the teachers' participation: their low status, isolation from other teachers, and lack of rewards. Includes tables and appendix. (MD)

The locus of control construct referred to in this study describes a distribution of individuals on a continuum according to the degree to which they accept personal responsibility for what happens to them. This study showed that for first grade children the interactions between a student's locus of control and his classroom environment may…

This chapter discusses General Systems Theory as it applies to education, classrooms, innovations, and instructional design. The principles of equifinality, open and closed systems, the individual as the key system, hierarchical structures, optimization, stability, cooperation, and competition are discussed, and their relationship to instructional…

This research is part of the London-based Concepts in Secondary Mathematics and Science Project. It is derived from developmental psychology, with particular emphasis on the implications of the results to the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. A basic premise is that if one first identifies the child's present level of understanding of…

The purpose of the two studies reported was to develop and validate clinical assessment instruments designed to identify both the progress of learners through a hierarchy of mathematics content and the mode of presentation through which learners can best handle the content. In Study 1, 73 second graders were given one of two forms of a 15-item…