Discusses the need for a common discourse about interdisciplinary needs in order to meet library users' needs. Considers why and how interdisciplinary activities emerge, what form they take, and where they are located in institutions. Also discusses knowledge representation. (Contains 78 references.) (Author/LRW)

Report of a cross-sectional study designed to establish conceptions of physical science held by registered nurses (n=162) in their clinical practice. Findings indicate that the conceptions held by the nurses were not adequate to allow them to fulfill their roles. Contains 27 references. (DDR)

Recommends the use of concept mapping in science teaching and proposes that it be presented as a creative activity. Includes a sample lesson plan of a potato stamp concept mapping activity for astronomy. (DDR)

Discusses the role of ontology in knowledge representation, including enabling content-based access, interoperability, communications, and new levels of service on the Semantic Web; reviews current ontology generation studies and projects as well as problems facing such research; and discusses ontology mapping, information extraction, natural…

Three- and four-year olds were asked to recall their own or another person's actions and to acknowledge the false belief upon which the action was based. They showed excellent recall of inappropriate actions based on a false belief, but failed to use the recalled action as a clue to acknowledge the false belief upon which it was based. (TJQ)

Discusses instructional design and describes the development of a support system for course design called AGD (French acronym for Didactic Engineering Workbench). Highlights include categories of computer tools that support course design, including computer-assisted instruction, instructional design expert systems, and job aids; knowledge modeling…

Argues for an approach to conceptual-change instruction that places students' science conceptions and their ability to reflect on those conceptions at the center of science instruction. Focuses on the effect of using status concepts. Contains 24 references. (DDR)

Presents a summary of teaching practices that are successful in promoting conceptual change based on a study of Grades 4, 8, and 10 and on the research literature. Proposes improvements in teaching methodology. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Compares the ideas of young people about Newton's third law, focusing on youth of today and youth of the 17th and 18th centuries. Examines the use of Newton's third law in understanding impact phenomena in the 17th and 18th centuries. Contains 46 references. (DDR)

Analyzes the problem students have in learning the Theory of Relativity. Points out that the results of the study are ambiguous and intriguing. Describes the publication of Lorentz's Transformation Equations, the presentation of two postulates by Einstein, and the rejection of the Electron Theory and the final acceptance of the Theory of…

Discusses two models of the mind: the influential model of "mind as container," in which the mind is akin to a computer storing data; and a connectionist model, in which the brain does not actually store or contain knowledge in the sense traditionally believed. Discusses the second model's implications for education. (EV)

Discusses concept maps and describes an extension to computer-based concept mapping tools that provides representational capabilities that allows students to express their knowledge more fully by incorporating dynamic media-sound, video, and animated images. Explains multimedia knowledge maps, accessibility via Web browsers, and possible future…

Proposes an alternative real valued representation of color based on the information theoretic concept of entropy. A theoretical presentation of image entropy is accompanied by a practical description of the merits and limitations of image entropy compared to color histograms. Results suggest that image entropy is a promising approach to image…

Critically analyzes an article by Jan Klabbers, focusing on methodological, epistemological, and ontological viewpoints. Examines the reasoning process whereby the actor approach model of learning environments is derived from the machine approach model; looks at claims of differentiation between rationalism and historicism, and the distinction…

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that subjects introduced to a first programming language develop a representation of basic programming concepts that help them integrate new declarative knowledge from a second programming language. The effect on reading was greater for pages that were conceptually close across texts and for subjects who had…