Focuses on the utility of ideology in understanding educational practice. Comprehending the relationship between appearances and reality is facilitated by semiotics--the study of symbols and signs. Using field study data from three schools, ideology is described as socially constructed and based partially on policymakers' connections to a larger…

Discussion of context focuses on the various contexts surrounding the design and use of intelligent tutoring systems and proposes an initial framework of contexts by classifying them into three major groupings: interactional; environmental, including classifications of knowledge and social environment; and objectival contexts. (Author/LRW)

The eight articles of this special issue focus on the cultural and personal elements of a mathematics learning situation that may be described as the context. The articles share an approach to context that views activity and meaning making as important determinants of human behavior. Each article contains references. (SLD)

Confirmatory factor analysis of data from 1,346 respondents to the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) (C. Peterson and others, 1982) reveals that adequate fit is provided by a three-factor attributional style model that includes context-dependent item sets. Results suggest that there is no such thing as a nonsituational attributional style.…

Finds that respondents (working in a medium-sized federal government agency) reading high-impact reports did not make significantly better decisions than those reading bureaucratic reports. Shows that context factors (perceived work roles, job design, organizational structure, report genre expectations, and organizational language norms) caused…

Provides a close description of the ways that Randolph Caldecott's work continues to compel admiration to show how classic texts that are selected and evaluated in the marketplace are the product of historical contingencies. Suggests that the choice of Caldecott as the name for the big prize in children's book illustration was and is fitting. (RS)

Two case studies involving story telling show how management competence is affected by subjective interpretation and by the context of management behavior. Management and organizational development should thus consider how contexts and relationships operate to prevent development of situation-specific competence. (SK)

Reviews Corsaro's work on the shift toward sociological approaches to research on children. Notes that the book fills a need for textbook on the sociology of childhood; documents the need for concern about children's well-being; presents a new analytical framework for the sociological study of children and of childhood; and challenges traditional…

Examines the usefulness of postmodernism in career counseling. Makes a case for broadening career counseling theories and techniques to feature the contextual influences inherent in each individual's unique career history. Introduces a career intervention, titled the Career-O-Gram, as a tool for exploring contextual influences on career…

Investigated how adult monolinguals and bilinguals incorporate the context cue in assigning the agent role vis-a-vis intrasentential cues (animacy and word order). Subjects were first and second language speakers of Chinese and English. Results show that both Chinese and English controls paid less attention to context than to intrasentential cues…

Looks at the social-historical context of developmental and other social science research in the United States. Focuses on the impact of Freud's and Piaget's theories. Discusses the current research trend to turn to the ideas in humanities and literary studies that have remained concerned with human development in social-historical reality. (ET)

Examines multiple perspectives in historical fiction and biography. By exploring point of view, students are inspired to look outward and investigate characters' experiences and the diversity in their world. Teachers should not allow their own cultures to bias selection and interpretation of texts. They should encourage students to develop…

Discusses applications of theories and research in psychology to understand controversies generated by two recent articles, explaining the need to distinguish between rational and intuitive thinking, recognize the power of context, think reflectively, and realize the costs of defying the crowd, and noting steps one can take to be wiser and more…

Examines the role scholarship plays in today's practice of student affairs. States that the nature of scholarship changes and adapts to the context within which student affairs is practiced. Identifies a new purpose of scholarship and outlines different ways emergent scholarship can meet the needs of today's practitioner. (Contains 13 references.)…

Reevaluates Lev Vygotsky's theory of children's development. Argues that we can understand development as history only when we think simultaneously about how changing contexts affect what children appropriate from them, and how children's appropriations modify the contexts that guide development. (JPB)