Taking the perspective of environmental psychology, this paper interprets the influence of educational settings upon children's socialization. The physical environment and the social structure it reflects determine the nature of information acquired during socialization. Socialization functions, long assumed by institutions such as schools, are…

In assessing the quality of science teaching for an effort such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it is important to understand what is meant by scientific thinking--the search for explanations. Instruction should involve higher-order cognitive skill development, but it is difficult to measure reasoning and understanding…

This paper begins with a summary and analysis of Robert Glaser's arguments, presented in his paper "Education and Thinking: The Role of Knowledge," which contend there are strong interactions between structures of knowledge and cognitive processes, and that problem solving and reasoning are taught best in the context of the acquisition…

This paper summarizes recent research on the way women define themselves, the way they reason about moral dilemmas, the way they learn, and how they view success and maturity. Two related questions are then addressed: (1) Are the characteristics of women compatible with the dominant mode of operating in organizations or institutions? and (2) How…

Forty studies using one or more components of Lozanov's method of suggestive-accelerative learning and teaching were identified from a search of all issues of the "Journal of Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching." Fourteen studies contained sufficient statistics to compute effect sizes. The studies were coded according to substantive and…

B. S. Bloom's theory of school learning states that three independent variables account for most of the variation in students' achievement: cognitive entry behaviors (CEB), affective entry characteristics, and the quality of instruction. These variables determine the nature of learning outcomes--level and type of achievement, rate of learning, and…

The design of an effective reading course in English for academic purposes must be based on an understanding of the reading process (including perceptual skills and cognitive processing), an understanding of problems in mastering the English writing system (punctuation, decoding handwriting, and confusion between typefaces), and an awareness of…

This descriptive study compared language used by teachers and children in Ausubelian and Piagetian preschool programs during small group instruction and related learning activities. Instruction in the Ausubelian program (AP) was based on Ausubel's subsumption theory of learning while that in the Piagetian program (PP) was based on Piaget's theory…

It is argued that professional education should be centered on enhancing the professional person's ability for "reflection-in-action," which is learning by doing and developing the ability for continued learned throughout the professional's career. Examples are drawn from an architectural design studio and the arts to demonstrate how…

Early reading should be studied from three perspectives: the function of print, the form of print, and the conventions of print. In so doing, it may be possible to avoid some of the hazards that have plagued the field, such as unsubstantiated assumptions about beginning reading and how it should be taught, erroneous beliefs that maturation plays…

The second of a two-volume report, this document focuses on the study of written language growth and development among 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children. The first section of the report introduces the program of research by examining its methodological and conceptual contexts. The second section provides illustrative and alternative looks at the…

A paradigm for learning economic concepts based on cognitive development and learning theory is offered as a guideline for teaching and research. Discussion is divided into two sections. The first section establishes the model's theoretical framework, which is based on two propositions. The first of these is that economic knowledge is not a fixed…

The Action Oriented, Reflection Oriented (AORO) observation instrument was designed to help teachers determine their students' cognitive preferences. The assumption underlying the instrument was that learning is enhanced when teaching strategies and materials take into account the student's natural tendency toward action or reflection. AORO…

This document contains 53 plenary and contributed papers presented at the eighth Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) meeting. Two plenary addresses focused on mathematics research in Australia and Japan, and problem solving and symbolism. Contributed papers were classified under 13 headings including: teaching and learning theory; cognition;…

During the period 1984-1986, over 30 teachers from the Yorkshire (England) region have worked in collaboration with the Children's Learning in Science Project (CLIS) developing and testing teaching schemes in the areas of energy, particle theory, and plant nutrition. The project is based upon the constructivist approach to teaching. This document…