A study examined whether exemplar-specific or prototype representations were primarily used by 28 children (ages 10-12) with mild mental retardation in a categorization task consisting of two groups of make-believe animals whose features were ill-defined. Results indicated the children were able to acquire and use both types of representations.…

Presents traditional and kinesthetic activities for teaching the following relative position concepts to young children: above, below, between, near, and far. Outlines reasons for more kinesthetic activities in early childhood settings. (KB)

Presents some useful information in regard to the issue of lead shot as well as its most common replacement, steel. Takes a holistic viewpoint and introduces hands-on activities that can be used across grade levels. Contains 55 references. (DDR)

Contrary to assumptions about aversive effects of competition on achievement motivation, in this study young people saw academic contests as fair. When participants completed structural interviews on fair ways to organize science contests and on differentiation of skill and luck, age-related trends in their conceptions of procedural justice were…

Discusses student and teacher perceptions of a new development in the use of the predict-observe-explain (POE) strategy. This development involves the incorporation of POE tasks into a multimedia computer program that uses real-life, digital video clips of difficult, expensive, time consuming, or dangerous scenarios as stimuli for these tasks.…

Describes the provenance of the data used in this issue. Includes design of the instructional sequence, instructional activities, classroom structure, and classroom episodes. (Author/MM)

Examines both theoretical and practical perspectives on conceptual exchange--exchanging a student's entrenched view on a scientific topic for one based on actual scientific perspective. Endorses the conceptual-mediation model based on interference theory for changing an established view. (AIM)

Presents hands-on activities that give students a head start in learning the vocabulary and basic theory involved in understanding atomic structure. Uses beads to represent protons, neutrons, and electrons and string to represent orbitals. (DDR)

Demonstrates how social constructivism has affected conceptual change research, and draws implications for reading and writing instruction from conceptual change research using social constructivism as a theoretical framework. Discuss why conceptual change researchers turned to social constructivism as a theoretical framework for their research.…

Explores the concept of aims in music education through investigating the ideas of four philosophers: Wolfgang Brezinka, Richard S. Peters, Bennett Reimer, and David Elliott. Inquires into the empirical and logical aspects of aims and clarifies the relationships between "musical behaviors." Concludes by discussing the relevance of conceptual…

Examined the development of children's conceptual understanding of attention by focusing on their awareness of various subtypes of attention. Found three changes with increasing age: (1) less emphasis placed on surface features of scenarios used in similarity judgments; (2) more attentional subtypes identified; and (3) more emphasis placed on the…

Studied whether the language spoken affects the way subjects think about time in 3 experiments involving: (1) 26 English-speaking and 20 native Mandarin-speaking college students; (2) 25 bilingual students; and (3) 70 native English speakers. Results suggest that language is a powerful tool for shaping thought about abstract domains and habitual…

Looks at the notion made popular in the 1960's by Paul Hirst and Richard Peters that knowledge is intrinsic to the educational enterprise. Suggests that the acquisition of knowledge remains the primary justification for educational experiences, and proposes a concept of knowledge as "rationality's database". (Contains 16 references.) (NB)

Describes a qualitative study of a community college American history survey course using constructivist teaching, wherein all learning is filtered through the learner's lens of reality. Reports that one implication of the study was that applied constructivism may result in a more holistic approach to teaching and learning. (AUTH/NB)

Interviews with 195 Australian training managers found that competency-based training is effective for workplace-relevant learning, organizational development, and standardization. However, it marginalizes cultural, conceptual, and tacit knowledge. Although it achieves some stakeholders' objectives, it privileges certain enterprises, workers, and…