This response to Norman Bray (EC 609 160) analyzes the methodology and findings of the original study and concludes that studies of strategy production must look at not only the mentally retarded child's cognitive capacities in problem solving but also the social and contextual conditions that affect the child's representation and use of…

Presents a critique of the social and political contexts in which the idea of construct validation developed. It outlines rhetorical, empirical, and philosophical dimensions of the concept and offers an alternative viewpoint for the conceptualization of construct validation. (SLD)

Schools' characteristics obstruct reform because teacher and student norms and values are at variance with one another. Because most reforms gobble teacher time, reduce teacher autonomy, and disturb current routines, they frequently fail. Chances for success will improve when context or reforms directly addressing organizational features are…

Sociometric status assessment of mainstreamed Hispanic pupils in grades four and five found that learning-disabled pupils (n=60) received lower sociometric peer ratings than nonhandicapped peers, though considerable variability existed and sociometric context influenced status. Thirty percent of the disabled sample were in the rejected status…

Research on teacher thinking often isolates teachers from their social and historical context. The paper discusses teacher thinking and action based on concepts of practical reason and logic. It examines ways to connect teacher thinking with the context of the thinking and notes the connection between action and context. (SM)

Using a connectionist framework, it is possible to develop models exploring effects of biologically relevant variables on behavior. The ability of such models to explain schizophrenic behavior in terms of biological disturbances is considered, and computer models are presented that simulate normal and schizophrenic behavior in an attentional task.…

Describes school principal leadership in the United States, reviews current literature, and suggests future research for facilitating effective school administrator preparation in various contexts. Leaders are only sometimes "masters of their fates." Given the current demands for implementing school-level reforms, too much leadership is being…

Discusses the design of situated learning and the ecological psychology of situated cognition. Topics addressed include the teacher's role; teacher training; anchored instruction; transfer skills; the meaning of learning; apprenticeships; and the Jasper Series, a macrocontext designed to investigate the issues of situated learning. (46 references)…

Examined children's coping strategies when negative events befell them and when they observed others in negative situations. Younger children were more likely than older children to use social support and seek adult help to remedy others' distress. Older children used more direct problem-solving and cognitive strategies than younger children. (MM)

Students do not associate traditional word problems with their own experiences because they describe situations textually, rather than contextually, and seem artificially geared to specific number operations and single correct answers. Aided by a state grant, elementary teachers in one Minnesota district are using video anchors to simulate…

A conceptual framework and heuristic model for considering the existence, magnitude, and consequences of context effects are presented through an extension of some generalizability theory concepts. Context effects are often misunderstood, and current measurement models have serious limitations for examining them. Their importance needs to be…

Leader-succession research is refocused on its interactive roots whereas the advances of recent succession inquiry are explored in this synthesis of the literature. The approach capitalizes on efforts to understand leader-succession research from a multidimensional and social viewpoint. Organizational socialization is used to frame the discussion.…

Students generally do better on outcome-based performance tasks than on domain-specific tasks. Results on performance tasks must be interpreted in the context of instruction or guidance provided before or during their administration. Reliability is sometimes questionable, since teachers are highly influenced by students' overall academic…

In a preliminary ethnographic study, the developmental tasks of 23 first-year and 20 fourth-year medical students were assessed with reference to practical problem solving. Findings provide direct support for a relationship between practical intellectual development and life course contexts. (SLD)

Researchers examined foreign language teachers' perceptions of their work environment, specifically how teachers in differing school contexts defined instruction and how contextual definitions related to classroom behavior. The social organization determined how teachers' daily experiences affected their beliefs, cognitions, and behaviors and the…