The challenge of education is to preserve the imagination, questioning, and theoretical stance of a five year old, but gradually replace unfounded prejudices and mind-engravings with more accurate theories, ideas, conceptions, and stories. Correct test answers seldom signify genuine understanding. Gardner's book "The Unschooled Mind"…

This paper discusses links among the process of creativity, symbolization, and learning. The importance of symbolization in thinking, in school learning, in child development, and in the behavior of creative learners is stressed. (DB)

Educating for understanding means that students have a sufficient grasp of concepts, skills, or principles to bring them to bear on new situations. Researchers at Harvard University's Project Zero are figuring out what to teach, how to teach it, and how to assess what students have learned using the approach of teaching for understanding. (MLF)

Learning is not a spectator sport but requires active learners who integrate new experiences into existing cognitive structures. Principals can help students develop self-responsibility by initiating discussions on this topic, identifying and sharing multiple learning resources for student use, and modeling uses of assignments based on mastery…

Discusses legitimate peripheral participation and the idea of apprenticeship, in educational settings as well as in broader communities of practice. Highlights include the historical and situational aspects of learning; the contrast with constructivism; instructionism; the influence of computer technology; and empirical research. (11 references)…

American education is stuck on well-intentioned, deeply traditional, but flawed ideas about teaching and learning. Failure to acknowledge a school's synergistic quality either paralyzes faculty or smothers changes already introduced. Pretending that serious restructuring can be done without honest confrontation is a cruel illusion. (MLH)

Forty young adults with mental retardation (MR) were compared to 40 young adults without mental retardation in tests examining postpractice interference effects in naming colors of Stroop words. The study concluded that practice developed automatized reading suppression responses which held greater cognitive inertia for longer periods among MR…

Analyzes cooperative education for its applicability to components of the learning process (external conditions, internal conditions, and learning outcomes) and relevance to learning principles. Finds that co-op enhances learning and supports traditional educational values. (SK)

Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" does not simply tell about instruction, it shows instruction in action. However, the instruction is indirect, or latent, and often uses stories. This method of teaching places substantial responsibility on the student and creates an equality between teacher and student. (MSE)

Examines some of the recent developments in cognitive theory and explores their implications for instructional design. Topics discussed include a shift from emphasis on behavioral theory to cognitive theory; task analysis; instructional objectives; learner characteristics; instructional strategies; metacognition; and the dynamic nature of…

Describes the writing theories of Lev Vygotsky, and how they are borne out by modern research. Asserts the Vygotsky's ideas show why cooperative learning strategies such as peer response groups fit into the beginning stages of the composing process. Discusses Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. (PRA)

Tests G. Armstrong's and B. Greenberg's model of the effect of background television on cognitive performance, applied to reading comprehension and memory. Finds significant deleterious effects of background television, stronger and more consistent effects when testing immediately after reading, and more consistently negative effects resulting…

Provides a checklist which can be used to help students become more independent learners by guiding them through a self-assessment of their abilities to learn how to learn and to establish clear goals with corresponding strategies for improvement. Provides educators with current references relating to such assessment procedures. (MG)

When teachers provide opportunities for thoughtful learning, students will demonstrate the insight resulting from deep understanding of subject matter. Three methods of teaching for understanding include teaching with mental models, coaching for understanding performances, and teaching for transfer. These approaches also help reconnect the…

The study found differential learning rates in a group of bilingual children (ages four to six) with limited English proficiency (LEP) when they all were taught an invented morpheme. The language-impaired children in the group learned the morpheme at a slower rate than the nonimpaired children. Results have implications for identifying language…