Argues that learning is an invariant process best understood from a dialectical perspective which demands that learning be viewed as an interaction between the organism and the environment. This view is contrasted with traditional operant approaches and with a Piagetian approach. (Author/DB)

Discusses economics as a mechanistic theory and the systems approach as a functionalist theory. Relevant literature is reviewed and a synthesis of the two types of theories is presented. (Author/DB)

The Boston Children's Museum has a participatory exhibit called City Slice. Visitors experience a three-story exhibit of a house, street, and yard with cross-section views that reveal changing needs and design issues over the century from Victorian Boston to the present. (Author/MLF)

Discusses the role of the Human Services Center in synthesizing and integrating program components of a counselor education program. Three functions as a synthesizing element, as a control element, and as a feedback element are discussed. A rationale is presented linking the operation of the Center to systems theory. (Author)

It is suggested that the complexities entailed in an analysis of life span attachment require consideration of so many interacting variables that a systems approach of some kind is needed for a beginning integration. (MS)

(For availability, see EA 507 405.)

Describes a systems analysis procedure for organizing an electronics unit for a second-year physics course. (MLH)

The top-down authoritarian, large-scale business model underlying school administrative practice makes it difficult for schools to respond to complexity and change. Systemic transformation requires an alternative mind set that broadens ownership of leadership, cooperates closely with external stakeholders, and follows the self-organizing systems…

Describes a workshop in which participants were challenged to develop a set of recommendations for the earth sciences community that would lead to a coherent educational plan with earth systems as a focus. Discusses recommendations made by the workshop participants, the future of earth systems sciences, and a plan for the future. (JRH)

Wageningen Agricultural University's use of systems approaches and simulation for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate education suggests the following elements are necessary: (1) congruence between the aims/interests of teachers and participants; (2) appropriate course level; (3) applicability to relevant research fields; and (4) a range of…

Factors in successful implementation of simulation in construction education are as follows: (1) considering human factors and feedback effects; (2) focusing on tradeoffs between with managerial decisions and construction policies; and (3) developing a standalone tool that runs on any platform. Case studies demonstrated the effectiveness of these…

Reviews federal legislation and court rulings related to services for individuals with disabilities. Discusses the value of a holistic, amalgamated service delivery system that can overcome barriers to implementation of laws and rulings. (SK)

Basics crucial to the successful functioning of early child-care and education programs are infrastructure and system. Infrastructure refers to the supports of finance, governance, accountability, professional development and training, and quality-assurance mechanisms. Systems make the parts function by eliminating redundancies and maximizing…

Using family systems theory as the unifying framework for teaching family studies to junior and senior high school students provides a tool for helping them understand families and family issues from a broader perspective than is possible in a unifocal approach. (Author)

A model of the Darwinian evolution of creative thinking is proposed. Creative thinking is modeled as a re-linkage of connections among mental representations, occurring in relationship to gene-culture heterarchy, which is a system of causative and motivational connections among the individual, the innate regularities of cognitive development, and…