Discusses the implications that technology may have for education in developed countries and developing worlds. Concludes that, to address these issues, educators must not fear technology nor be awed by it. (DKM)

Calculates average tenure of superintendents in 25 major cities since 1900. Superintendents' length of service has been decreasing, but not as precipitously as the press proclaims. A complex mix of environmental, local, and professional factors is responsible. The 1990 average of 5.76 years raises questions concerning the relationship of…

While education reform reports indicted public schools for failing today's youth and economy, the revisionists, a group of eminent scholars, challenged their assumptions and produced empirical evidence showing that the education crisis was manufactured. The public ignored these arguments. Reform reports affirmed people's (misguided) belief that…

Discussion groups of 100 teachers, 55 parents, 12 principals, and 40 students; survey responses from 50 parents, and interviews with 15 community members revealed positive attitudes about volunteer involvement in a school district, frustrations about limited time for volunteer coordination, and lack of support structure. Common school assumptions…

Discusses results of a survey of 42 randomly selected parents who had chosen kindergarten programs in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Respondents' decisions raise concerns about equity and quality and challenge assumptions that parents want choice and will use parent information centers to gather performance data. If choice is introduced without…

Investigates the effectiveness of combining conceptual change text and concept mapping strategies on students' understanding of diffusion and osmosis. Results indicate that while the average percentage of students in the experimental group holding a scientifically correct view rose, the percentage of correct responses in the control group…

Points out the important use of textbooks and their ancillary resources in lower-division chemistry courses and the scientific misconceptions found in them. Introduces the TextRev Project which is a new resource for data collection and analysis. Investigates how first and second year chemistry students use and value their textbooks and their study…

Investigates the cognitive and linguistic demands of learning algebra and explores students' understanding of algebraic notation. Findings indicate specific origins of misinterpretation that include intuitive assumptions and pragmatic reasoning about a new notation, analogies with familiar symbol systems, interference from new learning in…

The Indian Specific Health Risk Appraisal and measures assessing beliefs about health risks were completed by 200 Northern Plains urban American Indians. Participants rated personal risk optimistically, judged their risk factor standing as lower than peers', and were not changing behaviors related to acknowledged personal risks. Such biases may…

Reports on a simple classroom exercise that investigates whether students' beliefs of what they think should happen influences their measurements. The exercise also provides a framework for discussing the challenges that human belief systems bring to the discipline of using the scientific process. Results suggest that students' preconceived…

Points out that pupils often misunderstand the concepts of accuracy and reliability. Introduces a course in which students are involved in a two-week practical project that emphasizes checking anomalous points, improving accuracy, and making readings more sensitive. Describes the process of teaching students how to prepare their projects.…

Focuses on the conceptual understanding held by (n=78) preservice elementary teachers about moon phases before and after instruction. Compares instructive effect between two groups--inquiry-based physics instruction and no instruction. Reports that without the instruction, most preservice teachers were likely to hold alternative conceptions of the…

Suggests teaching strategies for overcoming the lack of student understanding of the principles of the bubble photometer by helping students compare the bubble photometer with the weighing method, develop the concept of assumptions, and resolve cognitive conflicts. Uses an interactive activity to help students expose their preconceptions.…

Presents a variety of examples of wrong proofs, misinterpreted definitions, and the mistaken use of theory. Examples are based on experience teaching mathematics to engineering students. Includes elementary examples and more advanced ones taken from different subjects. (Author)

Compares resistance by scientists to new ideas in scientific discovery with students' resistance to conceptual change in scientific learning. Studies the resistance by students to abandoning their misconceptions concerning scientific topics and the resistance by scientists to scientific discovery. (Contains 64 references.) (Author/YDS)