Examines the interrelationships among cognitive and social rigidity, intelligence and personal adjustment in old age, and evaluates a six-week training program teaching social problem-solving skills to the elderly. The hypothesis that cognitive rigidity is independent of social rigidity was not fully supported, and the findings suggest that social…

Subjects, who were pretested for levels of cognitive complexity and occupational positivity, participated in one of four self-administered vocational interventions. Results indicated subjects decreased in levels of complexity but increased in levels of occupational positivity over time. Effects were qualified by the differential impact of various…

Activity theory posits that culturally organized actions guide the acquisition and organization of knowledge. This theory was applied to the organization of knowledge within a large milk processing plant. The dairy was found to be organized by social knowledge, yet individuals creatively synthesized several domains of knowledge to organize their…

Tested the assumptions that the structural features of vocational schemas affect vocational information processing and career self-efficacy. Results indicated that effective vocational information processing was facilitated by well-integrated systems that processed information along fewer dimensions. The importance of schematic organization on the…

Two traditions of studying teachers and teaching have emerged over the last 50 years: the psychometric and the phenomenological. Procedures developing from personal construct theory are in the phenomenological tradition and provide the means for student teacher and supervisor/teacher educator to discuss all aspects of teaching in a counseling…

This study explored whether 142 teachers from different academic disciplines possessed different theories of knowledge and different attitudes toward education, and whether those attitudes affected classroom practice. Findings indicated that, on three of four scales used in the study, teachers differed as a function of academic discipline.…

Describes the initial validation of a new instrument and comprehensive rating manual designed to enhance the accuracy of measurement of the Perry scheme. (Author)

The education of teachers involves three categories of knowledge: particularistic, technical, and liberal. These knowledge areas are explored and their association with field, laboratory and scholarly/scientific learning environments is discussed. (DF)

This paper describes research conducted at the 2005 AHRD research conference. A qualitative case study is developed with the purpose of capturing new learning that occurs within the conference and how new learning is created. In support of the research, a three-pronged conceptual framework including communities of practice and learning…

Discussion of information as a process focuses on a conceptual exercise for calculating the information content of an information process. Topics include Bertram Brookes' fundamental equation; Claude Shannon's mathematical theory of communication; set of a priori alternatives; knowledge structures; and an example of an archaeologist's information…

Examines two conflicting educational theories: constructivism and positivism. Constructivism sees human knowledge of the external environment as constructed and based upon the subjective observer, whereas positivism sees knowledge as fixed for scientific testing. Discusses their implications in the field of instructional development and recommends…

Agrees with Walter Ong that technology can serve as a transformer of consciousness and, hence, of writing. Shows how technology can work dialectically with consciousness or thought. Discusses two of the potential implications of this dialectical view of the technology/consciousness/writing relationship. (TB)

Examines the key role that memory plays in the meaning-making process that children enact as they read and view images in a classroom that respects and encourages their own views and reflections. Discusses the six major categories of children's visual responses, and presents representative examples of children's illustrations. (TB)

Three studies of how workers construct knowledge associated with vocational practice were examined within a framework classifying dispositions as interest, attitudes, and values. Findings suggest that dispositions are rooted in individual history and participation in communities of practice and that consideration of how cognitive structures…

Presents a computer-based information system developed to support information understanding based on knowledge structures in hypermedia contexts. Examines the development and implementation of an understanding support system (USS), providing computational support for representation and access of knowledge structures. Discusses adding link-based…