This article provides an inside look at Barbara Knighton's classroom teaching. She uses big ideas to guide her planning and instruction and gives other teachers suggestions for adopting the big idea approach and ways for making the approach easier. This article also represents a "small slice" of a dozen years of collaborative research,…

This article concludes the special issue on identity and motivation by discussing the five preceding contributions. It identifies strengths and limitations in each article and places them within a larger context, indicating ways that the authors could broaden the scope of their inquiries by breaking free of existing limitations or adding…

This paper assesses the value of research, not on its methodology type but on its goal and accomplishments. It outlines an idea for developing a knowledge base capable of informing teacher education program planning and other educational policy decisions. Studies are described that advance knowledge about causal relationships between classroom…

Confrey's article is criticized on the basis of unbalanced content coverage, distortions in the treatment of the content that is covered, and the lack of readiness to come to grips with the realities of classroom teaching. (MNS)

Several lines of needed research on teaching are discussed, including process-outcome research, structuring the content for clarity, teaching cognitive skills and problem-solving strategies, recitation and boardwork, seatwork and homework, conceptual change teaching, classroom organization and grouping, cooperative learning methods, sex equity,…

This study examines the use of research techniques to generate information that informs curriculum development, in order to develop more powerful social studies curricula for the primary grades. The paper describes the studies of four implementations of units, all done in self-contained second-grade classrooms in suburban schools with traditional…

Despite scholarly disagreement about the nature and purposes of social studies education, the most widely adopted elementary social studies textbook series tend to be remarkably uniform, consisting of compendia of facts organized within the expanding communities curriculum structure. Content selection and explication tend to be guided primarily by…

This report offers guidelines for appropriately interpreting and using "teacher effects" research (research linking teacher behavior to student outcomes). Attention is given to the potential uses and abuses of such research, and limitations of the nature and use of scientific data on teacher effects are discussed. Ways that instructional…

This paper summarizes responses of students in grades K-3 to questions about Native Americans. The paper draws on findings from two studies, both done in a suburban school system deemed "average" on a variety of educational and socioeconomic indicators. In each study, samples of students stratified by gender and achievement level were…

This paper summarizes responses of students in kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 to questions about Native Americans. The paper draws on findings from two studies, both done in a suburban school system deemed "average" on a variety of educational and socioeconomic indicators. In each study, samples of students stratified by gender…

Graham Nuthall was drawn to social constructivist theories but relatively pessimistic about the feasibility of social constructivist approaches to teaching, except in rather narrowly specified situations. This article summarizes Nuthall's views on these issues and the research findings that shaped them, drawing in particular on a chapter in which…

College students reported memorable social studies activities that they had experienced in kindergarten through grade eight by describing both the activities themselves and what they learned from those activities. These memories were coded for subject matter, type of activity, and learning outcomes. The responses reflected the influence of the…

This paper reviews highlights of research on teaching conducted in the 1970s, discusses current trends, and considers accomplishments likely to be forthcoming in the 1980s. The latter include better attention to context in collecting classroom data and qualifying its probable generalizability, more and better measurement of progress toward…

A significant body of research, including several large-scale correlational studies, indicates that effective teachers of the basic skills differ systematically from those who are ineffective. Eight teacher characteristics are associated with success in producing achievement gains, including expectations, classroom management, curriculum pacing,…

Presents study results of fifth graders' attitudes toward history. Includes interviews with the student subjects concerning what they know about history, what they want to know, and reasons to study history. Concludes that fifth graders are interested in history and familiar with the past but vague on the interpretive nature of history. (DK)