Attending to the academic and social/emotional developmental needs of students has and continues to be a significant challenge for teachers and relatively little research examining the impact of teacher empathy exists. Empathy is an important skill for educators to facilitate the creation of a positive learning environment with students and…

This article describes key facets of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE), a curriculum that emerged in the United Kingdom, enabling teachers to accelerate the process of cognitive development so that more students could attain the higher-order thinking skills (formal operational thinking) required (Lecky, 2012). CASE, also…

Students preferentially take in and process information in different ways: by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing. Teaching methods also should vary accordingly. How much a student can learn is also determined by the compatibility of the student's learning styles and the…

This article discusses how amusing mistakes can make for serious language instruction. The notion that close analysis of language errors can yield insight into how one thinks and learns seems fundamentally obvious. Yet until relatively recently, language errors were primarily treated as indicators of learner deficiency rather than opportunities to…

This paper presents two puzzles that have emerged in a series of completed and ongoing studies at Queen's University, Ontario. These puzzles concern teachers' professional knowledge, a term used to refer to the non-propositional forms of knowledge assumed to be of importance to professional action. This research assumed that the professional…

Argues that cognitive style diagnosis gives a strong and rational basis to a personalized approach to education. Discusses the relationship between information processing and learning style. Describes the National Association of Secondary School Principals'"Learning Style Profile," which assesses students' perceptual responses, cognitive…

As an experienced classroom teacher, the author was dismayed at what seemed a total lack of engagement by Singaporean theology students. To determine class dynamics, or lack thereof, the instructor discussed his situation with colleagues and investigated the nature of his students' preferred learning styles. Finding that his students were visual…

Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation as a fundamental human experience and activity. It is also the interpretation of meaning, the realization that human expression contains a meaningful component which must be recognized as such and transposed into one's own system of values and meanings. It describes what seems to happen in conversation,…

U.S. college educator describes his experience visiting a prestigious kindergarten in Nanjing, China, noting his response to the Chinese learning style versus the Western learning style. (SM)

This paper examines different types of student learning styles and outlines a four-step process for identifying and integrating these learning styles to provide students with the most effective educational experience possible. The paper lists five dimensions along which most learning styles can be categorized--global-analytical, verbal-imaginal,…

Research on teaching has recently focused on the cognitive aspects of teachers' work, using a variety of verbal report procedures. It is argued that the models implicit in this research frequently underestimate the complexity of teachers' professional thinking and that teachers' verbal report data reveal characteristics of teaching which research…

This book helps practicing and prospective teachers to: (1) identify the decision patterns that define teaching styles and are common to the teacher-learner situation; (2) identify the specific decisions in each pattern; and (3) define the relationships among the various patterns and understand how to use them in classroom situations. The…

This publication profiles nine secondary school teachers selected as the 1988-89 Laboratory Fellows by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands. The Teacher Recognition Program is conducted by the Small Schools Network of the Laboratory to recognize outstanding teachers of a particular content area or skill.…

Contends that metaphorical thinking can help teachers and students construct new contexts for instruction and learning. Describes the use of metaphors as the basis for a preservice elementary social studies education course. (CFR)

Presents a concise introduction and overview of "constructivism." Constructivists assert that knowledge is constructed by individuals; constructivists advocate classroom procedures that encourage students to identify the subjectivity and biases of existing interpretations and to arrive at their own conclusions. Examines four hypothetical teacher…