Argues that some of the disciplinary distinctions proposed in the lead articles of this special issue actually represent aspects of theory or practice that are fundamental to all four fields. Examines what is deemphasized to suggest where attention may be needed--in particular, disciplinary relationships with organizations and disciplinary…

The author's background in psychology and adult education is used to identify two shifts in his perspective: (1) a move from disciplinary to applied knowledge toward working knowledge and (2) from the subject of psychology being the rational autonomous self to the socially constructed self to the relational self. (SK)

Suggests that pragmatism is most usefully seen as a perspective that encourages service learning practitioners to avoid epistemology altogether. Discusses three related commitments of service learning; (1) respect for disciplinary diversity; (2) encouragement of innovative experimentalism; and (3) enthusiasm for progressive thought and action.…

Claims dominant conceptions of tradition may prevent professionals in the field from realizing the full potential of work in composition. Calls for relinquishing the quest for academic professionalism in defining the work of Composition and constructing a sense of tradition as an active and activating force central to its work. (NH)

Discusses the need for a forum to discuss public issues related to language. Introduces three papers that focus on current language issues. (Author/VWL)

Describes the characteristics of the transfer point of information management to knowledge management (KM), what information resources management (IRM) does, and compares information and knowledge management and the roles of chief information officer (CIO) and chief knowledge officer (CKO). (PEN)

Considers whether gerontology is an academic discipline with specialized knowledge of education and training or a profession requiring training in a variety of fields. Examines examples of a social work curriculum and gerontology master's degree at two Israeli universities. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Although there are numerous challenges for implementing a comprehensive K-12 computer science curriculum in the United States, the need is obvious, and the time to begin is now. Computer science is a well-established academic discipline at the collegiate and postgraduate levels, as well as a distinct and important profession in the world economy.…

Few educational debates have been as sustained and acrimonious as whether school curriculum should emphasize history or social studies. This article argues that school history has largely shared social and individual goals with social studies, while the latter has relied on history as central to learning about the present. Although the article…

Two common models of teaching critical thinking in a discipline fail to do justice to the essential role critical thinking plays in all learning or to its role in the discipline as a whole. This chapter describes a model that emphasizes a more central role for critical thinking in shaping all course activity and in focusing on the most fundamental…

We argue that beyond metaphors, according to which learning is a process of knowledge acquisition by individual learners (a "monological" approach) or participation to social interaction (a "dialogical" approach), one should distinguish a "trialogical" approach, i.e., learning as a process of knowledge creation which concentrates on mediated…

Disciplinary variation in academic writing has been explored for the most part by comparing a particular genre, such as the research article, across different disciplines. However, genre theorists have not systematically studied relationships among related genres. It is argued in this article that a study of relationships among related genres from…

In his "Perspectives on the Philosophy of Education" John Wilson laments the confusion that surrounds the current state of the philosophy of education. Unlike other branches of philosophy, he claims, it is not clear what the philosophy of education is about, and a snapshot of current work in the field reveals its lack of coherence. To remedy this…

There is a widely held notion, even among educational historians, that the history of education is an unusual academic specialty, embraced fully by neither the professional world of teaching nor the historical profession. But in fact, the history of education may not be so unusual a specialization. It is one of a number of historical fields of…

In the educational process, the disciplines D1, D2,...,Dn have a succession which is generated by the content and the final objective--the student formation. In this work, the disciplines are presented as structured text entities. The graph associated to the disciplines is established. A method for dependencies evaluation is proposed. The testing…