This paper describes and analyzes teacher conceptions of the meaning of history. Previous research points to teacher conceptions as a crucial variable guiding curriculum decisions. Data for the study were collected through survey questionnaires and interviews. Data were analyzed by content analysis of fieldnotes, frequency analysis, and cross…

This symposium was designed to promote the formation of an instructional system that would incorporate the best instructional methodologies. Four papers were presented, each dealing with an acknowledged approach to teaching. The first paper emphasizes the importance of effective curriculum design, a facet of direct instruction that assists…

Individual differences in same-aged children's reasoning about effort and ability, as well as the consequences of different forms of reasoning in actual achievement situations, were investigated. It was hypothesized that different forms of children's reasoning would be related to different (helpless versus mastery-oriented) motivational patterns.…

This paper is a preliminary inquiry by a non-mathematician into graphic methods of sequential planning and ways in which hierarchical analysis and tree structures can be helpful in developing interest in the use of mathematical modeling in the search for creative solutions to real-life problems. Highlights include a discussion of hierarchical…

The second of three articles on the ways in which people formulate their observations, this paper begins with a discussion of the assumptions underlying analytical and class-based models of cognition. The analytical approach to the measurement of cognition is found to be inappropriate because human cognition, and consequently language processing…

The main focus of contemporary research in writing is on developing ideas and on the processes of planning and revision that make this possible. In the first half of this paper, the distinctive strategies used by experts and novices are elaborated. For example, novice writers depend upon having knowledge already assembled in forms ready for…

Contemporary authors' definitions of supervision suggest that in the American public school supervision evolved from four major conceptual foundations: (1) human concern, (2) leadership, (3) instructional improvement, and (4) administration. The categorization of definitions and explanations from 21 leading supervision authorities of the past 50…

Children may be able to gain partial information about the meaning of a word from clues, such as how it is used in a sentence and what words it is contrasted with. This strategy, known as "fast mapping," may provide a very useful first step in language learning. One question which arises from studies of fast mapping is whether fast…

This paper describes some salient aspects of inservice education that focus on constructivist learning/conceptual change. Major issues for inservice education based on the constructivist approach are described. These issues arise from viewing teachers as constructivist learners, and from the assumption that constructivism and conceptual change…

Although the ideas of Jean Piaget still dominate the field of science education, the range and severity of criticisms has increased progressively. In recent years, the emergence of a different theory of cognitive development has begun. This paper tentatively outlines a Lakatosian Research Programme for the alternative conceptions field. The…

The call for more empirical research in art education during the 1950s seems to be a precursor of the contemporary move toward more systematic instruction in the visual arts. If making art employs nonverbal aesthetic concepts, then conceptual consistency and problem solving within studio instruction can facilitate students' acquisition, retention,…

This study examined whether evidence for understanding the distinction between natural and man-made aspects of the world can be found in young children. Children 3, 5, and 7 years of age were asked to make judgments about the origins of 12 objects and people's ability to change the objects. The objects were evenly divided into naturally occurring…

This paper suggests that it may be productive for all teachers to become students of metaphor, as least of their own metaphors. Careful attention of how one describes the world appears to give clues as to how one constructs it. Such constructions can come under scrutiny only when one speaks or writes, and then attends to the language one has used.…

This study intoduces a strategy for analysing different kinds of phenomena by building "information structures" for analysing how parts make a whole in complex systems. The strategy introduced may be of use when there is a need to understand complex systems or situations; e.g., in various studies of adult education when education is seen as…