This booklet profiles five elementary school teachers who were selected as the 1988-89 Laboratory Fellows by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands. The Teacher Recognition Program conducted through the Small Schools Network of the Laboratory seeks to recognize outstanding teachers of thinking and…

Examines some of the assumptions associated with attempts to define the "engineering method." Critiques a previously stated definition of this method, and offers an alternative definition that attempts to include the ideas put forth in the previous definition. Discusses the use of engineering heuristics in both definitions. (TW)

Explores the rationale behind the importance of teaching young secondary school students how to look for correlation patterns. Describes two lessons that show how pupils can experience zero, positive, and negative correlation patterns between variables. Indicates the possible success of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education project.…

Describes a multiple-choice instrument that reliably and validly diagnoses secondary students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Highlights the consistency of students' misconceptions across secondary levels and indicates a high percentage of students have misconceptions regarding plant physiology. (CW)

Describes five astronomy education projects implemented by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Science Education Department and funded by the National Science Foundation. Project efforts have concentrated in three major areas: (1) curriculum development; (2) teacher support; and (3) classroom technology. (DDR)

Examines the tensions and debates at the heart of the World Bank's desire to become a knowledge agency. Discusses implications of the Bank's changing priorities towards education, trade-off between knowledge sharing versus knowledge development, and use of information and communications technology to create a global knowledge hypermarket called…

Explores the intuitive understanding of biology that occurs in early childhood and discusses later cognitive changes that occur. Young children possess a vitalistic understanding (e.g. breathing brings power to the body) that becomes mechanistic (e.g. an understanding of the heart and lungs) as they mature. Includes statistical and tabular data.…

Discusses effects of Title IX. Argues that, at this point in time, females possess a significant advantage, on average, on most central indicators of educational outcomes. Addresses other factors such as sexual harassment and failure of educational outcomes to transfer immediately to changes beyond the classroom. (CAJ)

Traditional assessment methods are not always suitable for diagnosing learners' knowledge structures at different levels of their expertise. This paper describes an alternative schema-based rapid assessment technique and its application in the area of arithmetic word problem solving. The technique is based on an assessment of the extent to which…

The previous article in this series introduced the triune brain, the three components of which handle specialized life tasks. The survival brain, or brain stem, directs automatic physiological functions, such as heartbeat and breathing, and mobilizes fight/flight behaviour in times of threat. The emotional (or limbic) brain activates positive or…

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.…

This paper puts forth techniques for the promotion of reflection which can be used in university seminars for preservice teachers. The techniques are based on the idea of reframing, i.e., looking at experiences from a new perspective. From a cognitive psychological point of view, this means that the person's cognitions about a situation or…

This newsletter describes an ongoing empirical field study involving a description and analysis of practical teaching situations aimed at describing the content and structure of pupils' frames of reference. The project takes the form of a series of case studies in classes of the 3-year lines of upper secondary schools in Sweden. The study seeks to…

Reviews experimental studies and field investigations of the influence of violence in the mass media on aggressive behavior. Relates this research to recent developments in cognitive psychology. Suggests that the cognitive-neoassociationist hypothesis provides the best explanation for the overall findings and may subsume other hypotheses…

Focuses on the language used by elementary mathematics teachers and its relationship to students' understanding of mathematical concepts, as well as their misconceptions. Describes eight situations in which the use of precise, formal mathematical terms could be replaced by informal language, particularly when introducing new concepts. (TW)