Exemplar texts of major intellectual communities in comparative education and social science discourse are examined in order to identify and compare defining characteristics in ways of knowing, credible knowledge, favored problems, metaphors, terms, and the like. The following communities are compared: positivist; dialectical materialist; critical…

Teachers often maintain that there is very little classroom time available for student inquiry which leads to in-depth questioning of subject matter, and improves performance levels. In addition, teachers often assert that there is little time for unit planning. To examine these problems, a group of teachers (n=24) were involved in a study…

This paper presents findings of a critical ethnography that examined the relationship between gender and the definition of power, and its use in the politicized role of the superintendent. Based on Stewart Clegg's (1988) conceptualization of power relationships as "circuits of power," the ethnography was conducted in a larger metropolitan area…

Various classroom questioning techniques are examined. Emphasis is placed on using questions that require higher cognitive operations by the student. This journal is available from 307 Peabody, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514.

Explores how thinking is organized, drawing upon the development of Darwin's thought from varying time perspectives. The struggle for coherence and identity in theory construction is seen as a dual process: that of an intutitive contact with the material and an abstract purposefulness and perspective. (Author/AM)

Describes the advantages of dividing students into heterogeneous sub-groups within a biology class so as to bring forth the private experiences of students which can then be validated by the class as a whole. (BR)

Describes the use of the "Arcane (mysterious) Can" which is a "tin" can which is permanently sealed, both air- and water-tight, by means of a home canning device. The canning procedure permits the use of a large variety of materials which can not be utilized in the ordinary mystery box. This Can activity is valuable for…

A new approach to teacher preparation has been implemented at the University of Houston (Texas). The principal goals of preservice education in the Reflective Inquiry Teacher Education (RITE) Program are to produce teachers who: (1) are liberally educated; (2) have a scholarly command of a discipline; (3) teach effectively; (4) reflect on and…

This document offers "reciprocal questioning" as a technique that promotes active learning and that is a practical and powerful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. First, the technique is described in detail. Steps include selection of four to five paragraphs of text; preparation of 10-12 questions over the material,…

Questions and questioning play a major role in both formal and informal educative processes. They are the means by which a child expresses the desire to understand the world outside and they subsequently become the means by which a teacher assesses whether or not a child has satisfactorily assimilated something. This book considers questions from…

This course syllabus describes methods for optimizing online searching, using as an example searching on the National Library of Medicine (NLM) online system. Four major activities considered are the online interview, query analysis and search planning, online interaction, and post-search analysis. Within the context of these activities, concepts…

Conference papers calling for newer constructs in organizational theory to explicate problems in understanding educational organizations were content analyzed to explore paradigmatic assumptions and to demonstrate a fit between assumptions. Papers supporting the use of qualitative methodologies were also analyzed. The papers were from the 1983…

The Information Age has been shaping the conception of thinking in education through the capability of computerized problem solving, through the resulting application of the information processing model to human thinking, and through the theories emerging from other cognitive science research in metacognition, construction of knowledge, and…

Many believe that children begin to learn science from the moment they start to perceive their environment. They have an innate need to make sense of what happens. Little by little, they form a useful model of the world around them. Before children go to school, they exercise their natural curiosity daily. School can expand a child's understanding…

To explore the relationship between inquiry and composing, a study interviewed 14 faculty members from several disciplines at the University of California at Santa Barbara, inquiring about the natural history of their research projects; where their ideas originated; what they did with those ideas; where their research took them; and what was the…