In relation to teaching and learning approaches that improve student learning outcomes, threshold concepts have generated substantial interest in higher education. They have been described as "portals" that lead to a transformed way of understanding or thinking, enabling learners to progress, and have been enthusiastically adopted to…

Studies of concept of teaching are reviewed and a four-step process is proposed: (1) determine taxonomical structure of the context; (2) prepare a definition in terms of critical attributes; (3) arrange examples in rational sets; and (4) arrange sets according to divergency and difficulty level. (Author/RD)

Discusses concept learning research and theory, and examines the relationship with models of instructional design. Topics discussed include how concepts are learned; how concepts are measured; instructional design for concept learning; inferences; teaching with analogies; use of learning strategies; and new strategies for classification…

Why percent is such a difficult mathematical concept to learn was explored in this review. The privileged language of percent has lost explicit references, has misleading additive terminology for multiplicative meanings, and has multiple uses for the preposition "of." Implications for teaching percent more effectively are discussed. (SLD)

This article investigates how adults attain concepts, how instructional materials can be designed for adults, and how instructional messages related to concept attainment can be delivered to adults. An extensive bibliography is attached. (RAO)

Describes two classroom experiences which can be useful to high school social studies classroom teachers as they teach students about global interdependence. Lessons involve energy production and use, and relatinships between energy and environmental issues. Students are involved in group discussion, map work, reading newspapers, and analyzing…

Examines the differences between concrete and abstract concepts and their implications for instructional design and teaching. How specific concepts are stored in and retrieved from memory is described, analogies are discussed as an instructional tool in abstract concept learning, and a possible instructional strategy for teaching abstract concepts…

Teacher education is often viewed as too theoretical and not sufficiently concerned with the realities of classroom practice. From this perspective, theory and practice are cast as distinct realms whose only connection comes when theory influences practice. This paper argues that the theory-practice dichotomy lacks the richness of Vygotsky's…

Examines how children's misconceptions regarding scientific phenomena change over time through instruction and other mechanisms. Asserts that Piagetian and Vygotskian theories offer insights into children's misconceptions related to how they are formed and how they are influenced by personal experience and social factors, and that these theories…

This paper introduces successive and coordinate intellectual thinking skills, using concepts as a best case example. The attributes and optimal presentation requirements of successive and coordinate concepts are reviewed, and types of errors commonly associated with successive and coordinate skills are delineated. The effects of both of these…

Sixty-eight studies on conceptual development in the biological sciences are reviewed. These studies originated in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Each study was classified by type of concept(s) under investigation and by the research method employed (focusing on the mode of inquiry and the mode of assessment used). When…

This second article in a series on children's artistic learning reviews the developmental process of symbolization and symbol representation by young children and analyzes the symbolism in works by three boys. Practical teaching considerations are discussed. For part one of this series, see the September, 1980 issue of this journal. (SJL)

Examines procedures derived from ordinary-language philosophy to help students learn to investigate conceptual issues in art. Sets out and analyzes three procedures relative to art education and makes suggestions for further research. Maintains that the principles and proficiencies in philosophical inquiry can be introduced and reinforced in all…

A sequence of reasoning processes based on a combination of theories developed by Jean Piaget is presented. An applied theory of concept-teaching is derived from the restructuring of Piagetian theories on logical thought specifically concerned with the notions of the additive and multiplicative ordering of groups, and the four logic processes of…

This article, first in a monthly series of six, presents a theoretical overview of artistic development in young children during the prerepresentational stage and draws implications from this for teachers on intervening in a child's artistic development through dialogues. (SJL)