The complexity and rapid expansion of the entire field of psychology make it appropriate to speak of "psychologies" when acknowledging the need for specialization of training and expertise. Nevertheless, unifying trends (UTs) exist in psychology, even though there can be no single set of theoretical principles to account for all empirical…

The teaching of literature is not well understood in American schools, nor has there been any major change in conceptualizing secondary school literature instruction in the past 25 years. In addition, study of how students come to understand literature parallel to the study of the writing process is almost nonexistent. For the past few years,…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a group of teachers came together to form a proactive culture, conducive to change, which assists them in achieving their ideals. The study is part of a programmatic effort to develop an understanding of how teachers make sense of teaching and of their struggles to change. Using semiotics as a base, the…

Undergraduates on college campuses are one of the best resources for learning about college student development. Nonetheless, graduate programs which prepare student personnel professionals have typically neglected to involve undergraduates in courses which attempt to teach student development theory and research. Without input and feedback from…

Students write a great deal during their school years, but they apparently never realize that writing affects their lives outside of school and can often even be important to their success. Research on the composing process has enabled teachers to separate the writing process from its product, but theory, practice, and research still focus on the…

Symbolic interactionism, or the interactional perspective, provides the broadest overview of the major theoretical divisions in the field of speech communication. It is neither too abstract nor overly concrete and is directly linked to communicative behavior, and thus does not impose an inappropriate mechanism on the discipline in order to create…

Despite certain challenges to current practice, little attention has been given to the importance of training educational administrators in research as a process of inquiry. In fact, the inquiry process should be at the core of graduate training for all school administrators. The National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration…

A curriculum based on "anchored instruction" was developed to enhance students' literacy development and acquisition of knowledge. The curriculum was designed to create a rich, shared environment that generates interest and enables students to identify and define problems while they explore the content from many perspectives. Based on…

This book highlights the use of research and other forms of knowledge for meaningful school reform by faculties engaged in the National Education Association's "Mastery in Learning Project" (MIL). This project is a school-based education reform initiative designed to help school faculties take an active role in directing school renewal…

The hypothesis tested in this study was the statement that teachers reflect what they have been taught--that teaching is a direct presentation of a specified curriculum and the direct reinforcement of students' correct responses to the curriculum. A survey of 455 graduate students called for scale responses about several theories of learning as…

Maxims derived from recent theory in learning and instruction and from reflection on excellent practice can be applied to teacher education, not only to improve the training of prospective teachers, but also to improve their ability to teach others. Especially useful are examples from Reading Recovery, a successful literacy training program. Some…

A description is given of a course in educational psychology in which students learn to apply the principles of educational psychology in understanding their own learning before they are expected to understand and apply these principles to children's learning. The course focuses on the application of the principles of educational psychology, i.e.,…

This document describes and assesses the process of adapting Paulo Friere's ideas in a Western European urban context. The Adult Learning Project (ALP), in the Gorgie Dalry section of Edinburgh, Scotland, is a sustained experiment in the application of Freire's educational principles. Following an introduction, chapter 1 describes the history of…

This guide to the development of reading and reading-related materials for newly literate individuals is designed for use in developing nations in the Asian Pacific region with relatively large neo-literate populations who may have little opportunity to practice and improve literacy skills. The guide consists of three sections. The first section…

Research has indicated that current information about reading and the effective teaching of reading has not yet made much impact on content area textbooks. As a result, there is much room for improvement in how textbooks are written. Recent research has yielded a great deal of information about what makes a text more understandable and supportive…