A survey of 88 journalists from metropolitan newspapers found a low level of knowledge about food biotechnology. Most considered genetic modification of plants acceptable, of animals somewhat acceptable. They trusted university scientists as sources and believed farmers would accept food biotechnology sooner than consumers would. (Contains 31…

Intellectual knowledge and wisdom-related knowledge differ in goals, approach, range, method of acquisition, and effects on the knower. Intellectual knowledge tends to decrease with age. The relationship between wisdom and aging is potentially positive if not impeded by cognitive deterioration. (Contains 68 references.) (SK)

Studied the effect of various instructional sets on reducing the claiming of knowledge of fictitious agencies in a survey of awareness of public agencies completed by 1,068 registered voters. Warning respondents that the list contained fake agencies reduced overclaiming but providing a memory retrieval strategy had no effect on overclaiming. (SLD)

Reviews existing literature on gestures and teaching in anthropology, linguistics, psychology, and education and, in the context of several concrete analyses of gesture use, articulates some focal questions relevant to educational research on knowing, learning, and teaching. (SLD)

Examined the relationship between commonly used indicators of knowledge and actual knowledge in five areas among fitness trainers. Data from the Fitness Instructors Knowledge Assessment indicated that a bachelor's degree in the field of exercise science and possession of one of two specific certifications strongly predicted a trainer's knowledge,…

The misconceptions regarding the nature of ATP hydrolysis and bond breaking are discussed. The students' knowledge in this area is quantitatively measured by a survey of over 600 biochemistry and physiology students.

The authors conducted 3 experiments addressing the issue of how observations and multiple sources of prior knowledge are put together in category learning. In Experiments 1 and 2, learning was faster for critical features, which were predictable on the basis of prior knowledge, than for filler features, and this advantage increased as more…

This paper examines the question of whether there are useful general thinking skills. It offers a working definition of "thinking skill" and identifies ways in which this concept has been over-applied. Thinking skills, used across domains, are not inevitably weak as a result of the generality-power tradeoff. Admitting that thinking skills require…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) House and Senate Pass Budget Blueprints: Plans Would Increase Spending by More than $20 Billion Over the President's…

Most leadership programs emphasize knowledge over skills, being skillful over how to be skillful, knowledge about skills over skill application, and ad hoc and hard-to-assess field activities over focused and observable skill practice. "Knowledge and skill application laboratories" provide opportunities to experiment with--and receive…

This paper argues that psychology has an important role for practicing teachers. Firstly, it is important that they keep their knowledge of best teaching and learning practices updated; psychology is a continually evolving field of research and whilst some traditional aspects may remain compelling even today, others are no longer seen as valid,…

Accounting education must change and be relevant to add value to learners and the community. Regarding the ever-changing corporate world, a new generation of learners (generation Y) at university, learners lacking skills, educators' resisting calls for change in accounting education and the need for continuous improvement, the teaching methodology…

Student teachers often find themselves in a dilemma when leading classroom discussions about texts. These conflicts may not necessarily be a reflection of student behavior or classroom management. Instead, they may be a sign of active engagement and students taking the challenge beyond their current knowledge level. Two kinds of conflicts were…

Drawing on the work of L. S. Shulman (1986), the authors present a conceptualization of the pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge of secondary-level mathematics teachers. They describe the theory-based construction of tests to assess these knowledge categories and the implementation of these tests in a sample of German mathematics…

Background: In most studies in the classroom context, the student is generally only one variable in the analysis of the effects of the teacher's work. Our research was based on the postulate that the student's activity is basically autonomous, i.e. irreducible with the influence that the teacher has. This is why we propose to analyse the dynamics…