Clarifies how the relationship between macro and micro social contexts has been addressed in the Vygotskian and Neo-Piagetian approaches to learning. Discusses how these insights can be used to broaden the basis for studying interactions in mathematics classrooms and concludes with ideas for new developments in socio-cultural theory. (Contains 92…

Presents the concept of interdependence and outlines the use of a concept approach in environmental education. Describes two activities that can be applied to an existing curriculum. (Author/CCM)

Synthesizes six theories of cognitive development in college students, provides a method for intentional informal assessment, and presents information on applying cognitive development theory in practice. Warns that cognitive development alone will not fully illuminate or adequately explain the developmental journey of college students as their…

Examines educational reform and Vygotsky's influence on critical pedagogy in Brazil from two perspectives. One is the historical tradition of accepting multiplicity of learning behaviors, and the other is a close analysis of an environment that espoused the idea of literacy as a cultural production shared by everyone. (MMU)

Gives an overview of contextual learning theories and characteristics of work-based learning. Presents a case study of the use of real work processes for systematic onsite apprentices training in Germany to demonstrate applications. (SK)

The "theory of mind" that children acquire in the preschool years provides the conceptual foundation for the metacognitive skills learned in school. At school entry, children's theory of mind is intuitive, embedded in everyday social interaction. Teachers can encourage children to make their understanding explicit by talking about it.…

Calls for a coalition of different research methods and strategies to better understand learning and development. Describes two such strategies: (1) testing-the-limits decomposing age-graded differences in upper limits of plasticity; and (2) experimental simulation of development, a coordinated sequence of theory-guided research steps. Both…

Discusses new adult learning theories, including those of Roger Sperry (left brain/right brain), Paul McLean (triune brain), and Howard Gardner (multiple intelligences). Relates adult learning theory to training. (JOW)

Clarifies the author's position on constructivism and whether nature determines what is produced as knowledge in human development. The author states his form of constructivism as a theory of rational knowing, not a metaphysics of being, for whatever things we know, we know only insofar as having constructed them as viable entities in our…

Argues against Glasersfeld's (1996) position that individual experience, not metaphysics, dictates that knowing is itself a metaphysical position. It further disputes Glasersfeld's assertion that people are necessarily constructed differently in our minds than objects, but agrees with Glasersfeld that proceeding with the business of education does…

Summarizes a range of theoretical approaches to language acquisition. Argues that language representations emerge from interactions at all levels from brain to society. Connectionism, which provides a set of computational tools for exploring the conditions under which emergent properties arise, is discussed, and simulations of emergence of…

Investigates effects of epistemological beliefs and topic-specific beliefs on undergraduates' (N=40) cognitive and strategic processing of a dual-positional text. Findings reveal that epistemological beliefs about the speed of learning affected the overall number of cognitive processes exhibited, whereas topic-specific beliefs interacted with the…

Describes an incident involving the author, his daughter, and sample items from a Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment. Elaborates on the author's increasing confusion with SOL assessments, especially in reading. Proposes that educators spend less time testing kids and more time "testing their theories" so that assessments better reflect recent…

Describes a survey that was conducted to ascertain how instruction librarians and other library professionals learn, assimilate, and utilize learning style theory. Results show that the majority of librarians are aware of learning style theory but are unsure of its validity or proper application in library settings. (Author/LRW)

Suggests that the more teachers can simulate learning conditions in their classrooms, the more effective their students' learning. Explores the degree to which the learning theory can be applied to quite different examples of real-world, complex learning. (SG)