This issue of ENC Focus is organized around the theme of educational change. It intends to provide teachers with practical resources and suggestions for implementing reform ideas in the classrooms. Featured articles include: (1) "There Can Be No Improvement Without the Teacher" (Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves); (2) "Changing…

This volume explores the academic issue: what is knowledge and what gives it its authority. The book makes three related points: (1) colleges and universities must think of themselves not as stores of knowledge but as institutions of reacculturation; (2) college and university professors must view themselves not as purveyors of information but as…

In one school of thought, self-directed learning (SDL) is based in the autonomous, independent individual who chooses to undertake learning for personal growth. However, another school of thought stresses the social construction of knowledge and the social context of learning. Some writers challenge the exclusive emphasis on the autonomous self…

Science now offers new conceptions of the learning process and the development of competent performance. This book presents a contemporary account of principles of learning, and calls into question concepts and practices commonly used in schools. Topics explored include how learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain, the effect…

The goal of emancipatory learning is to free learners from the forces that limit their options and control their lives and to move them to act for social and political change. Although emancipatory learning is commonly associated with adulthood, not all adult education fosters it, and not all adult educators align themselves with perspectives that…

This bulletin is concerned with how children learn to read. It describes as simply as possible the teacher's part in the reading experiences children have, and the ways parents can help in making the learning-to-read years of the child's life both happy and successful. Learning to read is not limited to the first grade. During each year a child…

This study compared successive formats (booklets) to simultaneous formats (display boards) to determine whether simultaneous formats increase instructional effectiveness and whether a topic of higher interest provides more learning than one of lower interest. Findings suggest older children may achieve higher learning levels with simultaneous…

Using a four-year (1970-74) pedagogical developmental project (Brovst, Denmark), discusses crucial concepts/aspects of educational change (construction of knowledge, meaning of harvested experiences, relationship between aims and strategies). Discusses teaching strategies: negative stipulation (changing relation between children and reality)…

Discusses the critical relationships among play, learning to read, and early reading achievement. Gives examples of kindergarten play activities that nurture the ability to read, including painting, playing with lettered blocks, movement activities, sociodramatic play, and field trips. (FL)

Using a Native American parable, compares the Standard Average European (SAE) world view with the Standard Native American (SNA) world view and the effects they have on education. Points out possible areas of interethnic confusion as a result of these two world views in communication dealing with cognitive schemes. (LC)

Reviews Wilkins' approach to curriculum design as presented in his "Notional Syllabuses." Discusses three components of the language teaching-language learning process: the semantic, the functional, and the formal component, showing how Wilkins' analytic approach implies a semantic rather than a grammatical syllabus, based on learners'…

Study investigated the relationship between children's (N=66) length conservation status and ability to acquire specific length measurement skills, and examined the interaction between mode of instruction (manipulative, graphic, and abstract) and conservation status. The expectation that length conservers would outperform nonconservers on…

Provides an overview of the nature, purpose, and instructional research related to semantic mapping. Offers a vivid description of how semantic mapping was used in a secondary social studies classroom, including how the teacher and students viewed the method. Suggests ideas and resources for interested teachers. (MJP)

Examines computer-mediated communication (CMC) in higher education, particularly the evaluation of network resources for course-related student communication. Presents case studies of e-mail seminars in Scottish language studies and music, demonstrates the significance of emphasizing process over outcome, and discusses factors affecting CMC usage:…

States that questions about the role of the teacher, the function of the computer, as well of the nature of pupils' learning when using IT (information technology) are now better understood than 15 years ago. Shows how publications from the National Association for the Teaching of English (Great Britain) reflect the emergence of the field of…