This article offers three interrelated arguments for the adoption of a cultural approach to the study of learning. It then presents some early analyses of data from a case study of one learning site, concerned with the assessment of learning in the workplace. These analyses show how the shape of the learning site--for example, the nature of…

There is a lot of educational software on the market, but little of it can be said to be revolutionary. Despite all the talk about education and computers, the educational software revolution has yet to begin. All educational software can be placed in categories of games (edutainment), simulations, reference software, and tutorials. Choosing…

Much has been written about the value of metacognition. However, little research has identified subsumed intellectual factors, logical operators, and cognitive functions; or has established clear relationships between metacognition and science cognition. This paper presents a study to build a strategic metacognitive model of an efficient,…

How science understandings are communicated and how students construct meaning of these communications are central issues in epistemic research. Students' metacognition of the meaning-making process is embedded in this line of research. This paper reports a study to examine children's declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of science…

A Hong Kong program to train secondary school teachers in the use of English as the medium of classroom instruction is reported and discussed. The program provides assistance to teachers accustomed to using mixed code in the classroom and who must use English consistently, and helps English teachers understand how they can support teachers of…

This book focuses on communication as the central feature in teaching and learning within second language classrooms. It examines the classroom as a unique communication context with highly regulated patterns of communicative behavior that are actively negotiated between teacher and students, and explores how and why these patterns of…

This guide describes the general expectations and major purposes of partner schools in the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER). Partner schools work in partnership with higher education for the training of teachers and the renewal of education. The partner schools all share a commitment to the 19 postulates enumerated by John I.…

One hundred and forty students in grades 6 and 7 were asked to process 32 science statements. Half of the statements were consistent with their prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Half of the students were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining students were…

To analyze a student's conceptual changes, analyzing transcriptions of writing and verbal statements may not provide enough information. In a study of 25 sixth graders learning about matter and molecules, concept mapping of students' stated ideas was used to analyze the kinds of organizational changes the students made to use new science…

This publication is a guide to assessing the competence of prospective music teachers in the California public schools. The guide was developed as part of a state-wide response to legislated entry and exit standards for teachers in elementary and secondary schools. An introduction describes the regulations and Executive Orders which are the basis…

This publication, the result of a series of workgroup meetings that culminated in a conference of 45 educators held in San Diego, California, in November 1989, is a guide to assessing the competence of prospective history and social science teachers in the California public schools. The guide was developed as part of a state-wide response to…

The understanding of children and adults regarding four component properties of the arithmetic mean was studied. The component properties were: (1) the mean is a data point between extreme values of a score distribution; (2) the sum of deviations about the mean equals zero; (3) when the mean is calculated, any value of zero must be taken into…

Four papers follow and document the progress of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing in understanding questions related to alternative assessment based on case studies in three elementary schools. The research questions include consideration of the logistical constraints that must be respected in developing…

This review examines all data-based ecologically valid studies published in "Learning Disability Quarterly" or "Journal of Learning Disabilities" that addressed reading instruction and were published from 1980 to 1990. It first looks at studies focusing on comprehension, including such reader factors as prior knowledge, metacognition, and visual…

This study examined students' active roles in constructing knowledge when learning new information in the domain of biological evolution. A computer-based connectionist methodology was developed to provide a way to present students with new information while the experimenter provides probe statements congruent with or contradictory to the…