The Galbraith article gives us the opportunity to think out loud about the purposes and practices of field activity, and in responding, this article argues that Galbraith is more concerned with the technical application of a method rather than investigating knowledge production. Using Bourdieu's theory of practice enables critical evaluation to be…

This article suggests that the principle of object-relatedness, introduced by Vygotsky and expanded by A. N. Leontiev, can be used to conceptualize human subjectivity within a profoundly social view of human development. This is achieved by reformulating the premises of cultural-historical activity theory to include the notion that material…

The objectives of this research were to test deficit and resilience models of adult students' experiences by: (1) determining the relative influence of chronological age and age stress on their academic performance and campus comfort; and (2) considering earlier educational experiences and social support in relation to their performance and campus…

We explored the ''idiothetic'' cognitive structure of RIASEC occupational percepts in a sample of Italian middle and high school students over a one year period, examining the possible bidirectional linkages between cognitive-vocational structure, involvement in career exploration activities, and exposure to authoritative parenting style. The…

Decades of education research have shown that students can simultaneously possess alternate knowledge frameworks and that the development and use of such knowledge are context dependent. As a result of extensive qualitative research, standardized multiple-choice tests such as Force Concept Inventory and Force-Motion Concept Evaluation tests…

Writing can be a powerful tool for learning biology. Writing assignments in biology could help students personalize and understand the biology knowledge they are studying. In this article, the authors present the "Botanical Sense of Place" (BSP), a convenient and easy-to-use writing template that they developed to elicit and probe students' prior…

African American cognitive Styles have not received much attention in research. An intended ethnographic study will examine the preferred cognitive styles employed by African American students in the classroom. The literature on African American cognition indicates that they are likely to utilize field dependent cognitive styles. The setting will…

The cognitive structure of 13 concepts in pulmonary physiology was explored among 112 first-year medical students and among 32 faculty members in three different expertise groups in a knowledge representation study. Purposes were to assess the degree of agreement among faculty members, map students' concept structures, and compare the similarity…

The Department of Administrative and Policy Studies (APS), University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), completed six research reports about its Conceptual Mapping Project. The reports reproduced here originally appeared in the "Occasional Paper Series" of the APS. They are presented in order of the chronological appearance as follows: (1)…

The development of cognitive representation is the main theme of three classic theories (Piaget, Bruner, Vygotsky) on how children learn concepts. Piaget considered structural change as a necessary condition for development; Bruner emphasized both internal and external function and the structural changes brought about by function; and Vygotsky…

Schemas are cognitive structures or forms of thought, like pieces of ideas or concepts. Patterns in children's behavior, or in their drawings and paintings, indicate common themes or threads (schemas) running through them. The action research study described in this report examined the effects on children's learning of intervening in their…

The present study was an exploratory study of the content-specific knowledge structures of three teacher educators (two in math and one in science). Pathfinder, a method for eliciting associative memory networks, was used to describe the knowledge structures of the teacher educators. Pathfinder was also used to determine changes in knowledge…

Three different theory of mind tasks were conducted with 4- to 8-year-old Quechua peasant children in the Peruvian Andes. The study investigated the ways in which children in preliterate cultures think and the possibility that they think differently than children in literate cultures. The tasks included: (1) a false-belief task, which tested the…

This paper explores the nature of content and language across the curriculum in relation to the Targets and Target-Related Assessment (TTRA) initiative. The TTRA is an assessment initiative designed to improve the quality of individual learning from Primary 1 to Secondary 5 in Chinese, English, and Mathematics in Hong Kong. A picture of content…

The development and role of subject matter knowledge within teachers' professional development is currently the source of much research; however, the parallel development and role of pedagogical knowledge has yet to be systematically analyzed. In investigating this seldomly tapped area of concern, researchers involved 26 preservice science…