Showing papers in "Educational Researcher in 1995"

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Many Faces of Constructivism

Abstract: Across the broad fields of educational theory and research, constructivism has become something akin to a secular religion. In her book Evolution as a Religion (1985), Mary Midgley wrote that the theory of evolution "is not just an inert piece of theoretical science. It is, and cannot help being, also a powerful folk-tale about human origins. Any such narrative must have symbolic force" (1985, p. 1). She might well have written the same about constructivism, which is, whatever else it may be, a "powerful folktale" about the origins of human knowledge. As in all living religions, constructivism has many sects-each of which harbors some distrust of its rivals. This descent into

Learning Gender@@@Shards of Glass: Children Reading and Writing beyond Gendered Identities

Abstract: Post-structuralist theory and the study of gendered childhoods the subjects of childhood knowledge and the subjects of reading and writing a vision of femininity? (masculine) transformations sexuality deconstructive reading writing beyond the male-female dualism.

A Prototype View of Expert Teaching

Abstract: We call for a reconceptualization of teaching expertise, one grounded in a psychological understanding of how (a) experts differ from nonexperts, and (b) people think about expertise as they encounter it in real-world settings. To this end, we propose that teaching expertise be viewed as a category that is structured by the similarity of expert teachers to one another rather than by a set of necessary and sufficient features. A convenient way of thinking about such categories is in terms of a central exemplar or prototype (Rosch, 1978), and we believe that a prototype view can contribute in important ways to a dialogue on expert teaching. Most importantly, a prototype view provides a way of thinking about expertise that incorporates standards (such that not every experienced practitioner is an expert) but also allows for variability in the profiles of individual experts. In this article, we outline a rudimentary model of prototype-based categorization and identify possible features, drawn from psychologic...

In Defense of the Realm: The Departmentalization of School Knowledge@@@Realms of Knowledge: Academic Departments in Secondary Schools

Abstract: The Invisibility of Departments Historical Background - From Realm to Realms The Departmental Plan The New Organisation of the High School Subject Divisions Specialist Divisions The Study Context and Design of the Study The Schools Oak Valley High School Rancho High School Highlander High School Boundaries and Barriers Boundary Strengths Breaking Barriers at Rancho Drawing Boundaries - Communication Cliques Social Worlds Looking for Community The Individuals Involved Departments as Social Worlds Different Kinds of Community Power and Politics Norms of Silence and Political Language Privileged Position of Academic Subjects Relative Privilege Among Academic Subejcts Micro-politics Inside Departments How the Subject Matters Subject Cultures Subject Differences Social Studies English Math Science Underlining Differences Departmental Differences implications for Policy.

Content as Context: The Role of School Subjects in Secondary School Teaching:

Abstract: In this article we argue that understanding subject-matter differences among high school teachers is crucial for the analysis and reform of secondary schools. An emerging line of research suggests that high school teachers belong to distinctive subject subcultures; these subcultures are characterized by differing beliefs, norms, and practices. We report findings from surveys and interviews with high school teachers that illustrate salient aspects of subject subcultures. Shared beliefs about the possibilities and constraints posed by different school subjects may complicate efforts to restructure high schools or redesign curriculum.

Performance-Based Assessment: Lessons From the Health Professions:

Abstract: Performance-based assessment methods have been used in the health professions for centuries, and dozens of studies of their psychometric characteristics have been reported over the past several decades. During that period, the health professions have seen a variety of performance-based assessment methods come and go, and some hard lessons have been learned from the many studies and frequent missteps. This article shares some of those lessons, using four performance-based assessment methods as examples: written clinical simulations (more commonly termed patient management problems), computer-based clinical simulations, oral examinations, and standardized patients (“live” simulations).

The Influence of L. S. Vygotsky on Education Theory, Research, and Practice

Abstract: riends and colleagues, I would like to thank you sincerely for the opportunity of appearing before you to talk about the work of Vygotsky.1 When I came here I was under the impression that I would be speaking to a group of about 30 people. I thought I would be able to sit quietly up here and have a cup of coffee while we had a pleasant conversation, and now here I am in front of this huge auditorium, and I am simply overwhelmed. But I will try to tackle the assignment that I was given! The name of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky2 is well known today among scholars in the social sciences, especially to psychologists and educators and to teachers in a number of countries. Although Vygotsky died almost 60 years ago, there is a great deal of interest today in his theoretical views and in how these views can affect the improvement and reform of contemporary education, for example in Russia and perhaps even in the United States of America. What are the reasons for this paradoxical situation? I propose that the reasons are, first that the deep hypothetical nature of Vygotsky's views has required a long time for them to be actually confirmed and grounded, and second, that these views have been inconsistent with the demands

What Is the System in Systemic Reform

Abstract: policy. State and federal policy is not the only way to pursue improved instruction-The Coalition for Essential Schools, Accelerated Schools, and the New Standards Project all do so largely outside the framework of policy-but systemic reformers have viewed government as their chief vehicle. The leading examples of changed state and national policy include the California and Vermont reforms, Goals 2000, the NSF State Systemic Reform Initiative, and the Kentucky reforms. Systemic reform focuses in two arenas: creating new policy instruments that seem necessary to enact systemic reform, and reducing the inherited tangles of regulation, bureaucracy, proliferating policy, and incoherent governance that would impede reform (Smith & O'Day).1 The new policy instruments are commonly thought to include:

The Historical Reconstruction of Knowledge About Race: Implications for Transformative Teaching

Abstract: I contend that knowledge reflects both the reality observed as well as the subjectivity of the knower. The attempt to clearly distinguish the objective and subjective elements of knowledge, a key feature of mainstream Anglo-American epistemology, is inconsistent with the ways that human beings know. I use a historical case study of the construction and reconstruction of race between the late 19th century and the 1940s to document the ways in which the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which knowers are embedded influence the knowledge they construct and reconstruct. The final part of this article discusses the implications of the historical construction of race for transformative classroom teaching.

Structural Reform and Educational Practice

Abstract: I magine a school that embodies many of the remedies currently advocated by educational reformers: The school is governed by a site-based council, composed of teachers, administrators, parents, and community members. The principal of the school reports regularly to the council on the progress of reform within the school and the council makes major decisions about the allocation of funds to activities within the school and the evaluation and hiring of personnel. Groups of teachers work together on a range of projects, including planning of common activities across groups and grades, development of curriculum units, and professional development to enhance their skills. Groups of teachers also exercise control over discretionary resources that can be used to purchase new supplies and materials. On their own initiative, and with the cooperation of the principal and the endorsement of the site council, teachers have organized themselves and their students into multiage teams, so that students move flexibly among teachers within a team and are grouped according to their needs in a given subject. The planning time necessary for teachers to work in teams and to engage in curriculum development is created by coordinating teacher planning times, scheduling art and physical education so as to release teachers from regular classroom duties, and by shortening the school day by an hour once a week.

Instructional Capacity and High Performance Schools

Abstract: or more than a decade researchers have been studying the design and implementation of educational reforms in states and school districts. One of the major sets of issues concerns the "capacity" of these systems to achieve the goal of helping all students reach high standards of achievement. The task of formulating policy has been hampered by disagreement in both the research and policy communities about the degree to which capacity is a problem, and if it is, what capacity or capacities are needed, and therefore, what should be done. Discussions of capacity are often framed by advocates of particular reforms and their beliefs about what is essential to implementing their ideas. For example, those who advocate systemic reform focus on the capacity for policy alignment, adoption of standards, development of curriculum and assessment, and changes in governance (Smith & O'Day, 1991). In contrast, for those who advocate school-by-school change, capacity building means the creation of learning communities, changes in governance, and opportunities for teachers to share their craft knowledge (Darling-Hammond, 1993).

How Shall We Study Comprehensive, Collaborative Services for Children and Families?

Abstract: Researchers and evaluators confront difficult challenges in studying comprehensive, collaborative services for children and families. These challenges appear in the interaction of multiple professional perspectives, specification of independent and dependent variables, attribution of effects to causes, and sensitive nature of the programmatic treatment. Given limited knowledge about these complex interventions, they will best be understood through studies that are strongly conceptualized, descriptive, comparative, constructively skeptical, positioned from the bottom up, and (when appropriate) collaborative.

Challenges Confronting the Researcher/Teacher: Conflicts of Purpose and Conduct

Abstract: An increasing number of university faculty appreciate that the role of classroom teacher offers a valuable research perspective (Richardson, 1994). However, striving to be both a researcher and a teacher presents unique and serious challenges. I refer to the Aristotelian distinction between the theoretical and practical "sciences" to characterize the nature of the conflicts I experienced as a researcher/teacher. I go on to describe how it became necessary to renegotiate traditional classroom values and expectations so that the activity of research might become a more productive part of the instructional experience. I suggest that similar kinds of tensions may be inherent to any responsible, inquiry-oriented teaching and that these challenges create opportunities to contemplate important issues about the nature of research, teaching, and curriculum.

Make a Difference With, Not For, Students: A Plea to Researchers and Reformers

Abstract: Student role redefinition is a critical, but overlooked, link between changes brought about by educational reforms and the realization of desired student results. Although the reform literature is well-stocked with ideas about what facilitates role change in adults, it is nearly silent with respect to students. This is surprising, given that most reforms maintain stringently that students' customary ways of acting will have to change for them to be prepared to assume a constructive place in the real world. If students do not receive training, assistance, and support from researchers and reformers as they make the transition between current expectations and future ones, they will be no more likely to embrace new roles than are adults under the same conditions.

The Uses and Misuses of Opportunity-to-Learn Standards.

Abstract: Do OTL standards have the potential for helping to solve the problem of providing equality of educational opportunity to all students, or are OTL standards simply a strategy for derailing recent efforts to move educational accountability away from its old focus on inputs and processes and toward a new focus on accountability in terms of educational outcomes? Are OTL standards simply one more strategy by professional educators to get more federal, state, and local money pumped into the K-12 education system? Will OTL standards represent another step, along with such ideas as a national curriculum and a national student

Misreading Dewey: Reform, Projects, and the Language Game

Abstract: Two serious misunderstandings of Dewey's pedagogical and philosophical views are discussed. The first, the erroneous assumption that Dewey favored an activity-oriented, child-centered approach to learning, relates to how Dewey thought about the role of experience in knowledge acquisition. The second misunderstanding relates to Dewey's stance on language. Viewing Dewey as an early supporter of the postmodernist linguistic turn in philosophy heralded by Rorty and others (i.e., that all knowledge is essentially linguistic) downplays Dewey's unique ontological solution to the mind/world dilemma. This article focuses on the practical and theoretical consequences that follow from accepting these two erroneous interpretations of Dewey.

Validity and Self-Reflexivity Meet Poststructuralism: Scientific Ethos and the Transgressive Self

Abstract: he field of educational research is currently a fertile site for the proliferation of new forms of and new approaches to inquiry. In the struggles for legitimacy of these new forms, the idea of what constitutes "valid" work has gone through many changes (See, for example, Alcoff, 1989, 1991; Cherryholmes, 1988; Clifford, 1983; Gordon, 1990; Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Kvale, 1989; Lather, 1986a, 1986b, 1991a, 1993; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; and Mishler, 1990). That is not to say that there is a coherent, linear progression of the validity discussion in which old forms are discarded in favor of new ones. Traditional validity criteria, in fact, coexist with newer criteria, depending on researchers' ontological, epistemological, and political leanings and assumptions, as well as their situational requirements. It is not my purpose to reproduce that discussion here.

Bounding the Case Within Its Context: A Constructivist Approach to Studying Detracking Reform

Abstract: This article presents the story of our research team's efforts to conduct a multisite case study of 10 racially mixed schools engaged in effort to reduce ability grouping or tracking. Although the politics of education research and our own theoretical frame work told us that detracking reform is strongly influenced by the politics and norms in the local school community, we were not sure how to study a school-level change while examining the broader context of that change. We learned over the course of our study to build outward from the school site into the local community, and co-construct the boundaries of our cases with the help of our respondents. As a result, we discovered that the boundaries of each case and the differences in the shape and size of each case are as much a finding as they are a methodological consideration.

Continuing the Conversation: A Response to Smith:

Abstract: I n the article to which Erick Smith responds, I suggested that the emergence of constructivism and sociocultural theory constitute two of the major trends in mathematics education during the past decade. My overall goal was to question the claims that adherents to each of these perspectives sometimes make for the hegemony of their own views. I instead outlined a more pragmatic approach in which we account for learning as it occurs in social and cultural context by bringing one perspective or the other to the fore as the need arises. Our activity as researchers is then seen to be situated in that justifications for one perspective or the other would be made with respect to the problems and issues at hand. Smith accepts these general suggestions and proposes a refinement of the theoretical tools or constructs that might contribute to a pragmatic approach of this type. I concur with several of his observations and agree that we need to use language that assists us in maintaining distinctions between perspectives. In addition, he is correct in observing that I did not specifically address various uses of the term knowledge, but instead limited my focus to meaning and context. In this response, I first comment on Smith's proposed knowing/knowledge distinction and then clarify a possible ambiguity in my use of the term constructivism in the original article. In doing so, I distinguish between Piagetian-based psychological constructivism as outlined by Smith and the version of constructivism I discussed.

Seductive Texts With Serious Intentions

Abstract: Every text aims to seduce its reader. If the text at the same time lays claim to having scientific value, we readers must ask whether seduction stands in the way of truth. As a concept, seduction lies halfway between an assault and conversation. As opposed to assault, seduction conveys a dimension of voluntarily being swept off one's feet. As opposed to conversation, seduction implies that one loses one's senses for a moment. Who, then, is really subject and who is object in seduction? The thesis I will argue here is that the readership's or audience's only chance of taking on the role of subjects, in a textual seduction, is to lose their senses first. Rather than being an assault against scientific ethics, seduction is a necessary premise for a sensible conversation to take place.

Not Tension but Intention: A Response to Wong's Analysis of the Researcher/Teacher

Abstract: David Wong (1995) makes a welcome contribution with his essay \"The Challenges Confronting the Researcher/Teacher: Conflicts of Purpose and Conduct.\" Like Wong, I have used my own teaching as a site for research. And like Wong, I have found the work challenging. Yet, when it comes to analyzing those challenges, we part company. Drawing clear lines between teaching and research, Wong argues that the role of teacher/ researcher is conflict-full. He also suggests that there may be a difference in teacher/researchers based on their primary focus of inquiry, claiming that his interest in students' thinking might differentiate his work from that of others (like myself) who are interested in studying teaching. Though these different foci might account for some of our differences, I see other significant differences, namely in Wong's (a) definitions of research and teaching and (b) assumption about the bifurcated selves of teacher/ researchers. Our differences lead me to object to his central claim that such work is inherently conflictual. Here I offer an alternative analysis, arguing that one teacher/ researcher's tension is another's intention.

A Developmental Contextualist Critique of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract: In this article we critique the current concept of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as it applies to primary school boys and girls. Generally, ADHD symptoms in young children are treated as if they reside solely within the child. The biological determinism of this conceptualization is both oversimplified and inaccurate. A developmental contextualist approach suggests that biological and classroom variables interact to elicit ADHD-related behaviors. In this article we define ADHD, present a model of developmental contextualism, and show ways in which the theory can overcome limitations in current conceptualizations of ADHD and guide future pedagogy and research.

Class, Race, and the Emergence of Federal Education Policy: From the New Deal to the Great Society:

Abstract: From the outset of the Great Society, the idea that education could eliminate poverty and expand economic opportunity for racial minorities and the poor dominated thinking about social and economic policy. Indeed, though policy planners in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations were certainly not the first to embrace this faith in education as a solution to social problems, seldom has education occupied so central a place in the minds of those responsible for planning social and economic policy. Johnson himself often stated that education was the chief tool for building a Great Society and argued that improving education for poor and minority children was one of the nation's principal unfinished tasks. One result of this belief in the efficacy of education was a dramatic expansion of the role of the federal government in making educational policy. Whereas prior to 1960 the federal government played a relatively minor role in education, between 1960 and 1970 federal aid to elementary and secondary schools increased from about a half a billion dollars to $3.5 billion a year, and the number of federal education programs expanded more than sixfold, from 20 to 130, many designed to improve education for low-income, minority, and \"educationally disadvantaged\" students. By 1976, federal expenditures on elementary and secondary education increased to $4 billion, over half intended for programs to promote equal educational opportunity. What accounts for this faith in the capacity of education to combat poverty and racial inequality? In particular, why did education become so central an instrument of federal social policy during the 1960s? In exploring these questions many accounts of the Great Society's educational programs focus on relatively immediate and circumstantial explanations for particular programs—such as LBJ's personal belief in the power of education or Sargent Shriver's interest in early childhood education, the composition and operation of the secret Task Force on Education within the Johnson administration, or the bargaining between interest groups that ironed out conflicts over race, religion, and federal control and made passage of education legislation such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act possible. None of these explanations is wrong. But because they take for granted the broader historical context in which policy is shaped, they tend to focus on relatively secondary issues at the expense of more fundamental questions about the relationship between race, class, and the state that shaped the trajectory of Great Society social and educational policy and that have shaped the course of policy development since then as well. When historians take a longer and broader look at the educational policies of the 1960s, many of their accounts point to the continuities with earlier initiatives. Linking the New Frontier and Great Society with the reformist tradition in American politics, they generally view the educational policies of the 1960s as the culmination of liberal efforts originating in the New Deal to use education to expand economic opportunities for minorities and the poor and to overcome opposition to federal involvement in education. One version of this story judges the result to have been beneficial, whereas another version views it to have been detrimental. But in both versions, the expansion of education in the 1960s built on the legacy of New Deal reformers eager to expand education and to extend economic opportunities to those long denied the promise of American life.

Improving Educational Productivity and School Finance

Abstract: he education productivity problem historically has been rising resources with flat or only slowly rising student achievement. In the period 1960-1990, inflation-adjusted revenues per pupil rose by slightly more than 200% (National Center for Education Statistics, 1994). However, despite a number of positive performance indicators, student achievement in core subject areas during the same period rose only modestly (Mullis et al., 1994; Odden, 1991). The future productivity problem is producing much higher student achievement, the goal of current education reform, with stable resources, because education resources have been flat for the past 5 years and are unlikely to do much better in the near future (Odden, 1994c). Both education programs and finance structures will need to be restructured to accomplish these productivity challenges. Of course, we recognize that low student performance may be due in part to declining social and economic conditions of children and their families, lack of hard work by students, and lack of parental support for schools and children (Casserly & Carnoy, 1994; Odden & Odden, 1995, chapter 2). Indeed, there is considerable truth to the proposition that maintaining levels of student achievement in a period of decline in the conditions of children would be a significant accomplishment (Bracey, 1994; Casserly & Carnoy, 1994). But our research focused on what schools controlled and could do to improve student achievement and thus productivity.

Where Is the Mind? Knowing and Knowledge in Cobb's Constructivist and Sociocultural Perspectives

Abstract: The three articles by Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer, and Scott; Cobb; and Bereiter (Educational Researcher, October, 1994) provide an intriguing introduction to the emerging relationship between Piagetian-based versions of constructivism and sociocultural approaches. Paul Cobb makes a strong case that the distinction between socioculturalism and constructivism is based primarily on the observational perspective chosen by the researcher. That is, researchers from the two areas often focus on different issues and ask different questions. As Cobb states: \"From one perspective, the focus is on the social and cultural basis of personal experience. From the other perspective, it is on the constitution of social and cultural processes by actively interpreting individuals\" (p. 15). The process of formulating a research question places the researcher within one of the perspectives. Making this process explicit enables others to understand why a researcher has chosen a particular focus for observation (e.g., the individual student, the classroom setting, etc.) and helps them understand why this focus will differ across researchers. This can, in turn, support the idea that these perspectives can be more complementary than competitive. However, this complementarity can be undermined if we fail to use language that supports the distinctions between the two perspectives. Cobb lists several terms that are often used differently by constructivist and sociocultural theorists (p. 13). However, there is a crucial missing term. This is the word knowledge.

This Is Not a Paper

Abstract: This article explores some of the prospects for electronic publishing in educational research.1Some scholars have predicted that paper journals and other periodicals will disappear within a decade. Others insist that electronic and paper publishing can and should coexist, each serving distinct purposes suited to their respective media. In assessing this debate, we argue, educational researchers and others concerned with publishing should weigh the special relevance of electronic publishing to educational scholarship and practice.

Ensuring Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

Abstract: E very past president has taken this opportunity to focus attention on the social, political, and educational issues current to their time and dear to their hearts. I 'm not going to violate tradition. My position statement on the election ballot said: My professional life for the past two and a half decades has focused on conducting and translating research into classroom and school reform. This has been an effort to improve education so that all students can ultimately become productive citizens in a democratic society. To accomplish this goal, students must come to school with healthy bodies, free from fear, ready to learn. This requires the joint efforts of parents, community representatives, psychologists, health care workers, juvenile services, government agencies, and teachers and administrators in full-service schools. I am particularly interested in full-service schools as the centers of research and development that in turn guide educational practice. As the most influential educational research organization, AERA is positioned to influence the national research and development agenda.

The Public Curriculum of Orderly Images

Abstract: There is a public curriculum inherent in the orderly images, and in the order in which these images are presented and seen in art museums. This voluntary public-access “curriculum,” selected differently by each visitor, offers both interesting challenges and useful metaphors for educators working in more structured settings. School educators, like art museum educators, help to develop students' abilities to see and hear the stories visible and accessible in the world around them; at our best, we develop skills for a lifetime of learning, learning that is sometimes most effective when it is unexpected and informal.