The general European discourse of childhood presents children as innocent and vulnerable, but within this discourse different images of "the perfect child" exist. In this article ideals for upbringing are studied as they are represented in French, German and Dutch printed advertisements for children's products. The sample consists of 290…

This article is part of a broader study on research capacity development (RCD) of individuals within three research units in South African universities. The complex and wide-ranging nature of research capacity means that development of capacity is a long-term, multifaceted and multilayered process. The ability to do research is more than the sum…

This paper presents a synthesis of what is currently known about the nature and development of scientific reasoning and why it plays a central role in acquiring scientific literacy. Science is viewed as a hypothetico-deductive (HD) enterprise engaging in the generation and test of alternative explanations. Explanation generation and test requires…

Molding intellectuals is one of the expectations people have, which comes from a deep-rooted belief in education. The humanity hypothesis of this belief is to take knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge as the only prescription for human beings. This hypothesis overturns the relation of knowledge and life. Intellectuals make scientific paradigm as…

Performing inquiry should enhance the intellectual development of students on numerous levels. We evaluate whether inquiry-based activities elicit inquiry behaviors by comparing these activities with traditional review sessions. We find that both inquiry-learning and teaching behaviors increase during inquiry-based activities, but that teachers…

Doctoral students become so focused on the classroom, exam and dissertation burdens of the moment that they graduate without really being prepared in terms of networking, intellectual development, and publication-ready texts. Hence, certain strategies that have proved reliable indicators are recommended, including starting the dissertation,…

Background: The mission of our education service as stated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Singapore: "is to mould the future of the nation, by moulding the people who will decide the future of the nation. The aim is to provide our children with a balanced and well-rounded education, develop them to their full potential, and nurture…

This paper proposes a definition of intellectual character in which metacognition plays a key enabling role. Two necessary, if not sufficient, conditions for being said to have intellectual character are having high intellectual standards and habitually checking one's thinking against those standards, or being metacognitive. Four questions…

The ideas and practices of two philosopher-educators and their implications for experiential education are surveyed. Earl Kelley holds that learning is not a matter of acquisition and acceptance, but a result of process and subject to continuous modification. He maintains that the educational system disregards and impedes the learner's purpose. He…

This paper helps to clarify the role of empirical evidence in psychological and epistemological theories. Following Galileo's idealization, epistemological theories do not describe the behavior of individuals in the real world. It is only when the "impediments" of the real subjects are gradually removed by experimental manipulation that…

"The Road from Coorain" is the autobiographical story of Jill Ker Conway, the first woman president of Smith College. The story traces Conway's journey from powerlessness to power. Born in the outback of Australia, where all people were powerless in the face of the vacillations of nature, forced off the land into a city life to which she…

Three Piagetian tests of formal reasoning were administered to 65 high school biology students after half of this group had been exposed to a training session involving the control of variables. Among the results of this study was that the concrete operational students benefited more from the training session than did the formal operational…

Reports on a study conducted to obtain indications of changes in mental level from high school through college and to investigate the relationship of cognitive level to SAT scores, college grades, and attrition. (PEB)

Examines intellectual change within the discipline of political science. (PMP)

This article suggests that secondary schools offer upperclassmen the opportunity to inquire objectively into the language and structure of morality. (Editor)