Showing papers on "Curriculum published in 1993"

Problem-based learning: a review of literature on its outcomes and implementation issues

Abstract: The effects of problem-based learning (PBL) were examined by conducting a meta-analysis-type review of the English-language international literature from 1972 to 1992. Compared with conventional instruction, PBL, as suggested by the findings, is more nurturing and enjoyable; PBL graduates perform as well, and sometimes better, on clinical examinations and faculty evaluations; and they are more likely to enter family medicine. Further, faculty tend to enjoy teaching using PBL. However, PBL students in a few instances scored lower on basic sciences examinations and viewed themselves as less well prepared in the basic sciences than were their conventionally trained counterparts. PBL graduates tended to engage in backward reasoning rather than the forward reasoning experts engage in, and there appeared to be gaps in their cognitive knowledge base that could affect practice outcomes. The costs of PBL may slow its implementation in schools with class sizes larger than 100. While weaknesses in the criteria used to assess the outcomes of PBL and general weaknesses in study design limit the confidence one can give conclusions drawn from the literature, the authors recommend that caution be exercised in making comprehensive, curriculum-wide conversions to PBL until more is learned about (1) the extent to which faculty should direct students throughout medical training, (2) PBL methods that are less costly, (3) cognitive-processing weaknesses shown by PBL students, and (4) the apparent high resource utilization by PBL graduates.

Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge

Abstract: The central concern of "Inside/Outside" is the assumption that pedagogical knowledge is generated "outside-in"; that is, from the university, to be applied at schools. The first half of this book provides a thoughtful and thought-provoking conceptual framework for reading and understanding teacher research, exploring its history, potential and relationship to university-based research. Cochran-Smith and Lytle argue that teacher research can transform, not simply add to, the present knowledge base in the field, linking research with practice and inquiry with reform. By doing so, they intend to add dimension and energy to the national momentum in this area. In the second half of this volume, the voices of teacher researchers contrast, engage and combine with one another as contributors explore the meaning and significance of their approaches and findings. These authors - who vary in experience and institutional context as well as in the areas they teach - not only try to enrich the broader frameworks proposed in the first section of "Inside/Outside", but also enter into the "national conversation about school reform, teacher professionalism, multicultural curriculum and pedagogy, and language and literacy education". Together, the two parts of "Inside/Outside" make the case that the relationship of research and teaching is distinctly non-linear and that important knowledge about teaching is generated both inside and outside classrooms. Understanding this relationship has significant implications for the development of further knowledge and for the transformation of our schools. This book should be valuable as a text for both graduate and undergraduate courses in educational research, as well as graduate courses in language and literacy. It should be of interest to a broad spectrum of individuals, including pre-service teachers, practitioners, researchers, administrators and curriculum specialists.

In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms

Abstract: Introduction. I. THE CALL FOR CONSTRUCTIVISM. 1. Honoring the Learning Process. 2. Considering the Possibilities. 3. Coming to Know One's World. II. SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM. 4. Posing Problems of Emerging Relevance to Students. 5. Structuring Learning around Primary Concepts: The Quest for Essence. 6. Seeking and Valuing Students' Points of View. 7. Adapting Curriculum to Address Students' Suppositions. 8. Assessing Student Learning in the Context of Teaching. III. CREATING CONSTRUCTIVIST SETTINGS. 9. Becoming a Constructivist Teacher. 10. Pursuing Meaningful Victories. Bibliography.

Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge

Abstract: In Collaborative Learning, Kenneth Bruffee advocates a far-reaching change in the relations we assume between college and university professors and their students, between the learned and the learning. He argues that the nature and source of the authority of college and university professors is the central issue in college and university education in our time, and that if college and university professors continue to teach exclusively in the stand-up-and-tell-'em way, their students will miss the opportunity to learn mature, effective interdependence-and this, Bruffee maintains, is the most important lesson we should expect students to learn. The book makes three related points. First, we should begin thinking about colleges and universities, and they should begin thinking about themselves, not as stores of information but as institutions of reacculturation. Second, we should think of college and university professors not as purveyors of information but as agents of cultural change who foster reacculturation by marshaling interdependence among student pers. And third, colleges and universities should revise longstanding assumptions about the nature and authority of knowledge and about classroom authority. To accomplish this, the author maintains, both college students and their professors must learn collaboratively. Describing the practical value of the activities encouraged by a collaborative approach-students working in consensus groups and research teams, tutoring peers, and helping each other with editing and revision-Bruffee concludes that, in the short run, collaborative learning helps students learn better-more thoroughly, more deeply, more efficiently-than learning alone. In the long run, collaborative learning is the best possible preparation for the real world, as students look beyond the authority of teachers, practice the craft of interdependence, and construct knowledge in the very way that academic disciplines and the professions do. With no loss of respect for the value of expertise, students learn to depend on one another, rather than depending exclusively on the authority of experts and teachers. In the second edition of this widely respected work, the argument is sharply focused on the need to change college and university education top to bottom, and the need to understand knowledge differently in order to accomplish that change. Several chapters, including that on collaborative learning and computers, have been throughly revised, and three new chapters have been added: on differences between collaborative learning and cooperative learning; on literary study and teaching literature; and on postgraduate education. From COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, second edition: ON THE CURRICULUM: Behind every public debate about college curriculum today lie comfortably unchallenged traditional assumptions. When we become fully aware of how deeply and irremediably these traditional assumptions have been challenged by twentieth-century thought, we see that a potentially more serious, and perhaps more rancorous and divisive, educational debate lies in wait for us. ON THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE: Remember the time Aunty Molly sat on the Thanksgiving turkey? Tell such a story at a family party and family members follow the story easily and get the point, because they are all members of the same small knowledge community. They know the people and the situation thoroughly, and they understand the family's private references. But try to tell the same story to neighbors or colleagues. For them to follow the story and get the point, you have to explain a lot of obscure details about family events and personalities that they're not familiar with. That is, when a smaller community sets out to integrate itsuelf into a larger one, the level of discourse has to change. The story changes and even its meaning changes as it becomes a constituting narrative of a larger and more complex community. The main purpose of college or university education is to help older adolescents and adults renegotiate their membership in that encompassing common culture. The foundational knowledge that shapes us as children sooner or later circumscribes our lives. We never entirely outgrow the local, foundational knowledge communities into which we are born. But for most people, the need to cope to one degree or another with the diversity and complexity of human life beyond the local and familiar does outgrow knowledge that is familiar and (locally) foundational. ON POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION: The problem is not that graduate professors do not know what they need to know. The problem is that most of them have learned what they know entirely under the traditional social conditions of academic alienation and aggression. Indeed, the problem is that mmbers of current graduate faculties were selected into the profession in part because they evidenced those traits. As a result, their fine education and superb reputations as scholars and critics may in some cased actually subvert their ability to understand knowledge as a social construct, learinng as an adult social process, and teaching as a role of leadership among adults.

Building community in schools

Abstract: Changing Our Theory of Schooling. Relationships in Communities. Emerging School Communities. Understanding Our Need for Community. Becoming a Purposeful Community. Using Curriculum to Build Community. The Classroom as Democratic Community. Becoming a Professional Community. Becoming a Community of Learners. Becoming a Community of Leaders. The Challenge of Leadership.

With an Eye on the Mathematical Horizon: Dilemmas of Teaching Elementary School Mathematics

Abstract: Ideas like "understanding," "authenticity," and "community" are central in current debates about curriculum, instruction, and assessment Many believe that teaching and learning would be improved if classrooms were organized to engage students in authentic tasks, guided by teachers with deep disciplinary understandings Students would conjecture, experiment, and make arguments; they would frame and solve problems; and they would read, write, and create things that mattered to them This article examines the challenge of creating classroom practices in the spirit of these ideals With a window on her own teaching of elementary school mathematics, the author presents three dilemmas-of content, discourse, and community-that arise in trying to teach in ways that are, in Bruner's terms, "intellectually honest" These dilemmas arise reasonably from competing and worth-while aims and from the uncertainties inherent in striving to attain them The article traces and explores the author's framing of and response t

An Introduction to Multicultural Education

Abstract: 1. Goals and Misconceptions. 2. Dimensions and School Characteristics. 3. Curriculum Transformation. 4. School Reform and Intergroup Education. 5. Knowledge Components. 6. Teaching with Powerful Ideas. 7. Citizenship Education and Teacher Knowledge. 8. A Pedagogy for Re-Envisioning America: Margaret Crocco Interviews James A. Banks. 9. Multicultural Benchmarks. Glossary. Appendix A. Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural Society. Appendix B. Nebraska Multicultural Education Bill. Appendix C. Checklist for Evaluating Informational Materials. Appendix D. A Multicultural Educational Evaluation Checklist. Appendix E. A Multicultural Education Basic Library. References. Index.

The Canon Debate, Knowledge Construction, and Multicultural Education

Abstract: I review the debate over multicultural education in this article, state that all knowledge reflects the values and interests of its creators, and illustrate how the debate between the multiculturalists and the Western traditionalists is rooted in their conflicting conceptions about the nature of knowledge and their divergent political and social interests. I present a typology that describes five types of knowledge and contend that each type should be a part of the school, college, and university curriculum.

The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education

Abstract: Reggio Emilia is a city of 130,000 people in the prosperous and progressive Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy Its municipal early childhood system has been recognized and acclaimed as one of the best systems of education in the world ("Newsweek," December 2, 1991) Over the past 30 years, the system has evolved a distinctive and innovative set of philosophical assumptions, curriculum and pedagogy; method of school organization; and design environments which, taken as a unified whole, is called the Reggio Emilia approach This approach fosters children's intellectual development through systematic focus on symbolic representation, as children are encouraged to explore their environment and express themselves through words, movement, drawing, painting, playing, and other natural modes of expression "The Hundred Languages of Children" offers a comprehensive exploration of the Reggio Emilia approach It provides a unique forum in which noted Italian and North American educators and administrators who are involved in or studying the program examine its origins, explain its rationale and practice, and demonstrate how its principles can be applied in American classrooms This volume deserves careful reading, for it dispels the prevailing view of Reggio as an art-education curriculum and casts it as a comprehensive child development program a comfortable, stimulating thought journey " -Carol Brunson Phillips, Executive Director, Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition, Washington, DC" a remarkable collection of essays which provide the reader with a much more thorough understanding of this approach to the education of young children If American educators read only one book on early childhood education this year, let it be this one -Dimensions of Early Childhood this book makes a unique and important contribution to early childhood education It no doubt will be considered a valuable resource by early childhood educators everywhere -Holistic Education, Carol Seefeldt, Institute of Child Study, University of Maryland a rich resource a comfort and a challenge to anyone in the Expeditionary Learning Community -"Outward Bound, newsletter of Expeditionary Learning, Leah Rugen, "

Problem-based learning: have the expectations been met?

Abstract: No abstract available.

Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction

Abstract: Acknowledgments. Preface. PRELIMINARY: BECOMING FAMILIAR WITH THE PROFESSION AND EXPECTATIONS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS. Architecture of the Profession. Expectations for Language. Teachers: A Continuum of Teacher Standards. Investigate and Reflect: Learning About Your Language-Specific National Organization and Your State Language Association Learning About Your Regional Language Conference Familiarizing Yourself With Foreign Language Resources Comparing Teacher Standards Across the Career Continuum. 1. UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF CONTEXTUALIZED INPUT, OUTPUT, AND INTERACTION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. Conceptual Orientation. Observe and Reflect: Observing a Child Interacting in L1 Alternative Observation of a Child Interacting in L1 Observing a Beginning L2 Class. Discuss and Reflect: Creating Real Conversational Models Using Songs to Engage Learners. 2. CONTEXTUALIZING LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION TO ADDRESS GOALS OF THE STANDARDS FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: A Roman Election Contextualizing the Teaching of a Past Tense Grammar Point Applying the Standards to the Post-Secondary Level. Discuss and Reflect: Textbook Evaluation: A Look at the Use of Context in Exercises Developing a Top-down ESL Lesson. 3. ORGANIZING CONTENT AND PLANNING FOR INTEGRATED LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Planning for Instruction Writing Daily Lesson Objectives and a Daily Lesson Plan. Designing a Unit of Instruction: Developing a Content-Based Level Five Foreign Language Class. Discuss and Reflect: The Effect of Class Scheduling on Planning for Instruction Analyzing the Use of Content and Context in a Japanese Lesson. 4. CONNECTING LANGUAGE LEARNING TO THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Designing a Content-Based Elementary School Lesson Developing a Storytelling Lesson. Discuss and Reflect: Teaching First Grade Content in French Implementing an Elementary School Language Program. 5. INTEGRATING LANGUAGE STUDY IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Developing Culture-Specific Examples of the Three Ps Unit and Lesson Design Around a Story, Myth, or Folktale Analyzing Lesson Plans for Three Ps. Discuss and Reflect: Exploratory vs. Sequential Middle School Programs It's McLicious! Staying in the Target Language. 6. USING AN INTERACTIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOP INTERPRETIVE SKILLS. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Using the Interactive Model to Explore an Authentic Printed Text Using the Interactive Model to Explore an Authentic Taped Segment. Discuss and Reflect. Developing Interpretive Listening: Scripts or No Scripts? Reading Aloud. 7. USING A STORY-BASED APPROACH TO TEACH GRAMMAR. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Examining Grammar Presentations in Textbooks Designing a Story-Based Language Lesson Developing a PACE Lesson for the Post-Secondary Level. Discuss and Reflect: Using a Story-Based Approach to Teach Reflexive Verbs Contrasting Explanations of Form. 8. DEVELOPING ORAL AND WRITTEN INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Creating Information-Gap Activities for Various Levels of Instruction Integrating Speaking with Oral or Printed Texts Integrating Advanced-Level Discourse at the Post-Secondary Level. Discuss and Reflect: Interpersonal Speaking? I Already Do That! Friday Is Culture Day. 9. DEVELOPING ORAL AND WRITTEN PRESENTATIONAL COMMUNICATION. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Designing a Presentational Process-oriented Writing Activity for Secondary Levels or Beyond Finding the Oral and Written Presentational Elements in Prepared Project Unit. Discuss and Reflect: A Play for My "Buddies" Integrating Peer Revision into the Presentational Writing Process. 10. ADDRESSING STUDENT DIVERSITY IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Designing a Lesson Appropriate for Diverse Learning Styles Working within Communities. Discuss and Reflect: Preparing to Teach Special Education Spanish I and II Classes Cultural Diversity in a Small Rural Community. 11. ASSESSING STANDARDS-BASED LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE IN CONTEXT. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect: Analyzing and Adapting a Traditional Test Adding An Authentic Dimension to a Performance-Based Assessment Task. Discuss and Reflect: Developing Authentic Assessment Tasks and Rubrics. 12. USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONTEXTUALIZE AND INTEGRATE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. Conceptual Orientation. Teach and Reflect. Discuss and Reflect.

Formative Evaluation of Academic Progress: How Much Growth Can We Expect?.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine students' weekly rates of academic growth, or slopes of achievement, when Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is conducted repeatedly over 1 year. Using stan...

The Moral Life of Schools

Abstract: "Rarely have I come across a book that so quickly provoked me to re-examine my own classroom behavior. There is no place to hide in this careful scrutiny of the teacher as crucial player in the daily morality tale that becomes the story of school life." -- Vivian Gussin Paley, teacher, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools This book takes the reader on an eye-opening journey through a variety of elementary and high school classrooms, highlighting the moral significance of all that transpires there. Drawing on the results of a two-and-a-half year study, the authors examine the ways in which moral considerations permeate the everyday life of classrooms. In addition to providing teachers and teacher educators with a new framework for looking at and thinking about the moral dimensions of schooling, the authors also offer specific suggestions about how to look at classroom events from a moral perspective. Contents One. Looking for the Moral: An Observer's Guide Two. Becoming Aware of Moral Complexity Within a School Setting: Four Sets of Observations Three. Facing Moral Ambiguity and Tension: Four More Sets of Observations Four. Cultivating Expressive Awareness in Schools and Classrooms Postscript: Where Might One Go from Here? Philip W. Jackson is the David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor of Education and Psychology and a member of the Committee on Ideas and Methods at the University of Chicago. Robert E. Boostrom is a senior research associate of the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Chicago. David T. Hansen is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Teaching ESL writing

Abstract: Chapter 1 Overview of Native English Speaker (NES) Composition Beginnings The Expressive School The Cognitive School Early Writing Process Research Basic Writers Current Research Trends The Social Nature of Writing Ethnographic Research and Composing Processes Computers and Composition Teaching James Kinneavy and Traditional Rhetoric The Reading-Writing Connection Individualization and Collaboration in the Classroom Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Testing and Assessing Writing Classroom Implementation Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 2 Overview of ESL Composition Early ESL Methods Controlled Writing "Free Writing"/Guided Writing Language-Bases Writing The Pattern/Product Approach The Process Movement Current Trends and Research Composing and Revising processes Contrastive Analysis/Error Analysis Cohesion/Coherence The Process-Product Classroom Communicative Competence Collaborative Learning Computer-assisted Language Learning (C.A.L.L.) Proficiency Testing Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 3 Pedagogical Issues in ESL Writing Cross-Cultural Communication The cross-Cultural ESL Writing Classroom The ESL Writing Teacher as Cultural Informant Learning and Teaching Styles Contrastive Rhetoric Schema Theory The Writing-Reading Connection Differences Between Speaking and Writing Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 4 Curriculum and Syllabus Design Curriculum Development Designing a Curriculum Statement Syllabus Development Syllabus Design for Writing Courses Horizontal and Vertical Syllabi Designing the Linear Syllabus Designing the Modular Syllabus Content-Based Syllabus Design Evaluating and Revising Existing Curricula/Syllabi Planning Curriculum and Syllabus Revision Evaluating Textbooks Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 5 Blind Random: The First Weeks Learning about Student (and Teacher) Styles Planning Ahead Teacher-Student Responsibilities Operating Procedures The First Day Lesson Plans Troublespots Student diversity Lack of Community Mismatches in Student-Teacher perceptions Uneven Pacing Student "Resistance" to Change Levels of Anxiety Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 6 Collaborative and Cross-Cultural Activities Selection and Design Criteria for Classroom Activities Start-Ups The First Days: Introductions Warm-Ups Collaborative learning and Group Work Planning Group work The Journal (Daybook, Learning Log) Cross-Cultural Activities Group Projects Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 7 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Integrated Skills Activities Sequencing Assignments Sample Sequences The Writing-Reading Connection Journal (Daybook, Learning Log) Writing and Reading Reading(and Writing about) Peer and Self-Writing Nonfiction Readingand Writing Readingand Writing about Literature Integrated Skills Activities Surveys Games, Role-Play, and Writing Situations and Writing Designing Activities and Writing Assignments Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 8 Responding to Student Writing Student Response Issues in Peer Review Peer Review Worksheets Alternative Audiences Teacher Response Conferencing Mini-conferencing Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 9 Evaluating Student Writing Accuracy and Fluency Revision Grading Scales Analytic Scoring Holistic Scoring Teacher Evaluation Forming a Philosophy of Evaluation Evaluation Criteria Cover Sheets Evaluating Evaluation Portfolio Assessment Plagiarism Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing Chapter 10 Teaching ESL Writing: Becoming a Professional Individual Professional Development Theory: The Foundation of the Profession From Theory to Practice: Reflective Teaching Action Research Conclusion Discussion Questions/Writing APPENDICES Appendix 1: Personality Surveys Appendix 2: Learning and Teaching Style Surveys Appendix 3: Teacher Observation Sheets GLOSSARY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKS CITED

The moral base for teacher professionalism

Abstract: Hugh Sockett aims to fill a gap in the body of literature concerning moral foundations in education. Dr Sockett posits that moral language must be used as the primary language of educators and that a major transformation across all educational institutions is needed to sustain the collegial autonomy crucial to educational improvement. His thesis is that moral quality in teacher professionalism is based in four principle areas: community, knowledge, accountability and ideals. Through an accessible writing style and an apt use of case studies, he links the professional role of the teacher, the men and women who occupy it, the moral demands it makes, and the practical arts of teaching, to the institution of education and its contemporary problems. Sockett's focus is on the teacher as a living and central figure in the classroom, and he addresses the traits of idealism and altruism as agents of professionalism. This book should be of particular interest to pre- and in-service teacher educators, as well as to curriculum specialists and philosphers of education. It can also serve as a supplemental text in ethics courses.

Reframing the School Reform Agenda: Developing Capacity for School Transformation.

Abstract: Over the last decade the rhetoric of school improvement has changed from a language of school reform to a language of school restructuring. Efforts to make our current education system more efficiently have shifted to initiatives that aim for the fundamental redesign of schools, of approaches to teaching and learning, and of goals for schooling. Just as the last century's transformation from an agrarian society to an industrial one made the one-room schoolhouse obsolete, replacing it with today's large school bureaucracies, so this century's movement into a high-technology Information Age demands a new kind of education and new forms of school organization. There is little room in today's society for those who cannot manage complexity, find and use resources, and continually learn new technologies, approaches, and occupations. In contrast to low-skilled work on assembly lines, which was designed from above and implemented by means of routine procedures from below, tomorrow's work sites will require employees to frame problems, design their own tasks, plan, construct, evaluate outcomes, and cooperate in finding novel solutions to problems.[1] Increasing social complexity also demands citizens who can understand and evaluate multidimensional problems and alternatives and who can manage ever more demanding social systems. These changes signal a new mission for education - one that requires schools not merely to "deliver instructional services" but to ensure that all students learn at high levels. In turn, the teacher's job is no longer to "cover the curriculum" but to enable diverse learners to construct their own knowledge and to develop their talents in effective and powerful ways. This changed mission for education requires a new model for school reform, one in which policy makers shift their efforts from designing controls intended to direct the system to developing the capacity of schools and teachers to be responsible for student learning and responsive to student and community needs, interests, and concerns. Capacity-building requires different policy tools and different approaches to producing, sharing, and using knowledge than those traditionally used throughout this century. COMPETING MODELS OF POLICY MAKING Over the last decade, hundreds of pieces of legislation have sought to improve schools by adding course requirements, increasing testing requirements, mandating new curriculum guidelines, and requiring new management processes for schools and districts. Similar reforms during the 1970s had tried to "teacher-proof" schooling by centralizing textbook adoptions, mandating curriculum guides for each grade level and subject area, and developing rules and tests governing how children should be tracked into programs and promoted from grade to grade. These efforts are the most recent expressions of a model of school reform put into place at the turn of the 20th century - a model grounded in the view of schools as bureaucracies run by carefully specified procedures that yield standard products (students). Based on faith in rationalistic organizational behavior, in the power of rules to direct human action, and in the ability of researchers to discover the common procedures that will produce desired outcomes, 20th-century school reform has assumed that changing the design specifications for schoolwork will change the nature of education that is delivered in classrooms - and will do so in the ways desired by policy makers. This model fits with a behavioristic view of leaming as the management of stimulus and response, easily controlled from outside the classroom by identifying exactly what is to be learned and breaking it up into small, sequential bits. However, we now know that, far from being "blank slates" waiting to accumulate pieces of information, learners actively construct their own knowledge in very different ways depending on what they already know or understand to be true, what they have experienced, and how they perceive and interpret new information. …

Changing middle school students' conceptions of matter and molecules

Abstract: The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to understand the conceptual frameworks that sixth-grade students use to explain the nature of matter and molecules, and (2) to assess the effectiveness of two alternative curriculum units in promoting students' scientific understanding. The study involved 15 sixth-grade science classes taught by 12 teachers in each of two successive years. Data were collected through paper-and-pencil tests and clinical interviews. The results revealed that students' entering conceptions differed from scientific conceptions in various ways. These differences included molecular conceptions concerning the nature, arrangement, and motion of molecules as well as macroscopic conceptions concerning the nature of matter and its physical changes. The results also showed that the students taught by the revised unit in Year 2 performed significantly better than the students taught by the original commercial curriculum unit in Year 1 for 9 of the 10 conceptual categories. Implications for science teaching and curriculum development are discussed.

The development of science process skills in authentic contexts

Abstract: Instructional strategies and curriculum sequences aimed at teaching process skills have received considerable attention in science education. On the other hand, the teaching of domain-independent, context-free skills has been subject to criticism on the ground that important aspects of cognitive activities are functions of meaningful contexts. The intent of this study was to examine the development of integrated process skills in the context of open-inquiry laboratory sessions. The data-collection approach was qualitative and included videotapes of laboratory sessions, laboratory reports of students, and the reflective journals kept by the two teachers involved in the study. Forty-eight students from the Grade 11 introductory physics course, 29 students from the Grade 12 physics course, and 60 students from the Grade 8 general science course from an all-boys private school participated in the study. An interpretive research methodology was adopted for construction of meaning from the data. Students worked in collaborative groups during all of the open-inquiry laboratory sessions. Findings from the study indicate that students develop higher-order process skills through nontraditional laboratory experiences that provided the students with freedom to perform experiments of personal relevance in authentic contexts. Students learned to (a) identify and define pertinent variables, (b) interpret, transform, and analyze data, (c) plan and design an experiment, and (d) formulate hypotheses. Findings of this study suggest that process skills need not be taught separately. Integrated process skills develop gradually and reach a high level of sophistication when experiments are performed in meaningful context.

Reading Comprehension and Second Language Development in a Comprehension-Based ESL Program

Abstract: How do experienced ESL instructors plan and organize their teaching practices to make curriculum innovations? The present research sought answers to this question in three different educational contexts, attempting to document the curriculum concepts, pedagogical knowledge, and processes of instructional planning that eight teachers used to create novel courses for adult ESL learners. Findings describe (1) four modes of planning and twelve cycles of information-gathering in the ESL curriculum planning of one teacher, (2) verification of this framework among four additional teachers, as well as (3) an additional framework for documenting teachers' orientations to curriculum content in second language writing instruction, accounting for three teachers' processes of accommodating an instructional innovation into their usual teaching practices.

Outcome Research in Environmental Education: A Critical Review

Abstract: This review includes an analysis of the 34 environmental education studies published since 1974 that attempted to demonstrate changes in environmentally relevant knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors The authors divide the studies into two major categories—in-class and out-of-class programs—and critique the studies' findings and methodologies Although many of the investigations contained methodological difficulties, some of the findings indicate that future research can refine environmental education strategies and curricula

Using Children’s Mathematical Knowledge in Instruction

Abstract: This article describes how knowledge of children’s thinking in mathematics, derived by using a cognitive science research paradigm, was used by a first-grade teacher to make instructional decisions. Children in the classroom learned mathematics to a level that exceeds what is recommended by the NCTM Standards (NCTM, 1989). The study is situated in the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) project chain of inquiry. We describe the teacher’s knowledge, beliefs, and method for using research-based knowledge of children’s thinking in addition and subtraction in her classroom. We describe her mathematics curriculum, the expectations she had of children, and the way her classroom was structured to enable her to continually assess children’s thinking and knowledge. The article includes statements of the teacher that indicate the importance of the research-based knowledge to her as she taught. The article ends with some speculation about how knowledge of children’s thinking can influence curriculum reform.

Multicultural Education: Development, Dimensions, and Challenges.

Abstract: THE BITTER debate over the literary and historical canon that has been carried on in the popular press and in several widely reviewed books has overshadowed the progress that has been made in multicultural education during the last two decades. The debate has also perpetuated harmful misconceptions about theory and practice in multicultural education. Consequently, it has heightened racial and ethnic tension and trivialized the field's remarkable accomplishments in theory, research, and curriculum development. The truth about the development and attainments of multicultural education needs to be told for the sake of balance, scholarly integrity, and accuracy. But if I am to reveal the truth about multicultural education, I must first identify and debunk some of the widespread myths and misconceptions about it. Multicultural education is for the others. One misconception about multicultural education is that it is an entitlement program and curriculum movement for African Americans, Hispanics, the poor,, women, and other victimized groups.[1] The major theorists and researchers in multicultural education agree that the movement is designed to restructure educational institutions so that all students, including middle-class white males, will acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function effectively in a culturally and ethnically diverse nation and world.[2] Multicultural education, as its major architects have conceived it during the last decade, is not an ethnic- or gender-specific movement. It is a movement designed to empower all students to become knowledgeable, caring, and active citizens in a deeply troubled and ethnically polarized nation and world. The claim that multicultural education is only for people of color and for the disenfranchised is one of the most precious and damaging misconceptions with which the movement has had to cope. It has caused intractable problems and has haunted multicultural education since its inception. Despite all that has been written and spoken about multicultural education being for all students, the image of multicultural education as an entitlement program for the "others" remains strong and vivid in the public imagination, as well as in the hearts and minds of many teachers and administrators. Teachers who teach in predominantly white schools and districts often state that they don't have a program or plan for multicultural education because they have few African American, Hispanic, or Asian American students. When educators view multicultural education as the study of the "others," it is marginalized and held apart from mainstream education reform. Several critics of multicultural education, such as Arthur Schlesinger, John Leo, and Paul Gray, have perpetuated the idea that multicultural education is the study of the "other" by defining it as synonymous with Afrocentric education.[3] The history of intergroup education teaches us that only when education reform related to diversity is viewed as essential for all students -- and as promoting the broad public interest -- will it have a reasonable chance of becoming institutionalized in the nation's schools, colleges, and universities.[4] The intergroup education movement of the 1940s and 1950s failed in large part because intergroup educators were never able to persuade mainstream educators to believe that the approach was needed by and designed for all students. To its bitter but quiet end, mainstream educators viewed intergroup education as something for schools with racial problems and as something for "them" and not for "us." Multicultural education is opposed to the Western tradition. Another harmful misconception about multicultural education has been repeated so often by its critics that many people take it as self-evident. This is the claim that multicultural education is a movement that is opposed to the West and to Western civilization. Multicultural education is not anti-West, because most writers of color -- such as Rudolfo Anaya, Paula Gunn Allen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison -- are Western writers. …

Effect of problem-based, self-directed undergraduate education on life-long learning

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To compare how well graduates of a self-directed, problem-based undergraduate curriculum (at McMaster University [MU], Hamilton, Ont) and those of a traditional curriculum (at the University of Toronto [UT]) who go on to primary care careers keep up to date with current clinical practice guidelines DESIGN: Analytic survey Management of hypertension was chosen as an appropriate topic to assess guideline adherence An updated version of a previously validated questionnaire was mailed to the participants for self-completion SETTING: Private primary care practices in southern Ontario PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 48 MU graduates and 48 UT graduates, stratified for year of graduation (1974 to 1985) and sex, who were in family or general practice in Ontario; 87% of the eligible subjects in each group responded MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall and component-specific scores; analysis was blind to study group RESULTS: The overall mean scores were 56 (68%) of a possible 82 for the MU graduates and 51 (62%) for the UT graduates (difference between the means 5, 95% confidence interval 19 to 82; p

Comprehensive curriculum for gifted learners

Abstract: I. THE PROCESS OF CURRICULUM MAKING. 1. Curriculum for the Gifted: Past, Present, and Future Directions. a. The forces that drive curriculum. b. A curriculum philosophy for the gifted. c. Research on curriculum for the gifted. d. Curriculum dimensions for the gifted: i. Content. ii. Process/Product. iii. Epistemological/Concept. e. Conclusion. f. Questions for discussion. g. References. 2. Curriculum Design Issues in Developing a Curriculum for the Gifted. a. Gifted learner characteristics: A prelude to differentiated curriculum dimensions. b. Content, process/product, and concept dimensions. c. The Integrated Curriculum Model. d. Accommodations for individual differences. e. Assessment: Measuring student outcomes. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for discussion. h. References. 3. Curriculum Development Processes. a. The process of curriculum development. b. Gifted program goals. c. Perspectives on the needs of the field. d. Collaboration in curriculum development. e. Testing the curriculum. f. Professional development. g. Checklist of curriculum principles for use in developing gifted/talented programs. h. Conclusion. i. Questions for discussion. j. References. 4. Developing Key Curriculum Products. a. Scope and sequence development. b. Developing individualized educational plans (IEP) for gifted learners. c. Effective implementation through collaboration. d. Alignment to standards. e. Curriculum writing: Unit development. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for discussion. h. References. i. Appendices. II. ADAPTING CURRICULUM TO GIFTED LEARNER NEEDS IN CORE DOMAINS. 5. Differentiation Curriculum: The Process. a. What is a differentiated curriculum? b. Application features of a differentiated curriculum. c. Conclusion. d. References. 6. Reading and Language Arts Curriculum for the Gifted Learner. a. Considerations for teaching and learning reading and language arts. b. Connectivity to standards in reading and language arts. c. Interdisciplinary connections in reading and language arts. d. Accommodating at-risk gifted students. e. Programming considerations. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for discussion. h. References. 7. Language Study for Gifted Learners. a. Considerations for teaching and learning in language studies. b. Interdisciplinary connections via foreign languages. c. Accommodating at-risk gifted learners. d. Programming considerations. e. Conclusion. f. Questions for discussion. g. References. 8. Mathematics Curriculum for the Gifted Learner. a. Connections for teaching and learning mathematics. b. Connectivity to standards in mathematics. c. Interdisciplinary connections in mathematics. d. Accommodating at-risk populations in mathematics. e. Considerations for implementing programs for the mathematically gifted. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for discussion. h. References. 9. Social Studies Curriculum and the Gifted Learner. a. Considerations for teaching and learning social studies. b. Connectivity to standards in social studies. c. Interdisciplinary connections in social studies. d. Accommodating at-risk populations in social studies. e. Considerations for the implementation of gifted programs. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for Discussion. h. References. 10. Science Curriculum for the Gifted. a. Considerations for teaching and learning in science. b. Connectivity to standards in science. c. Interdisciplinary connections. d. Accommodating at-risk populations in science. e. Considerations for implementing gifted programs in science. f. Conclusion. g. Questions for discussion. h. References. III. ADAPTING CURRICULUM TO GIFTED LEARNER NEEDS IN NON-CORE DOMAINS. 11. Leadership Curriculum for the Gifted. a. Leadership and intelligence: Is there a relationship? b. Curriculum within the cognitive domains. c. Transferring curriculum activities to the leadership domain. d. Applications for leadership within the context of the classroom. e. Conclusion. f. Questions for discussion. g. References. 12. Arts Curriculum for the Gifted. a. Differentiating curriculum in the arts. b. Use of arts standards by the gifted community. c. The relationship of the arts to cognition. d. The role of the arts in affective development. e. Aesthetic experiences for enhancing instructional processes. f. Curriculum integration in the arts. g. Conclusion. h. Questions for discussion. i. References. 13. Affective Curriculum and Instruction for Gifted Learners. a. Affective components in a gifted curriculum. b. Emotional intelligence. c. Learner characteristics of low income and minority students. d. Tailoring affective curriculum and instruction for low income and minority students. e. Conclusion. f. Questions for discussion. 14. Developing Interdisciplinary Curriculum through Humanities Study. a. The teaching of concepts. b. The study of philosophy. c. Key questions regarding the humanities. d. The learner in the context of the humanities. e. Creativity in the humanities curriculum. f. Issues in implementing interdisciplinary curricula for the gifted. g. Selected materials for use in humanities programs for the gifted. h. Conclusion. i. Questions for discussion. j. References. 15. Accommodating Special Populations of Gifted Students through Tailored Curriculum Experiences. a. Twice-labeled gifted. b. The learning disabled gifted student. c. AD/HD and gifted. d. Implications for curriculum and classroom management. e. Underrepresented gifted learners. f. Considerations for curriculum and programming. g. The underachieving gifted learner. h. Conclusion. i. Questions for discussion. j. References. IV. SCAFFOLDING INSTRUCTION TO SUPPORT DIFFERENTIATED CURRICULUM. 16. Teaching Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving and Research. a. Use of models. b. Problem solving. c. Creative problem solving. d. Metacognition. e. Teaching research. f. Metacognitive aspects of thinking. g. Constructing thinking skill programs in schools. h. Conclusion. i. Questions for discussion. j. References. 17. Teaching Creativity. a. Use of models. b. Description of skills. c. Description of mentors. d. Applications of creativity to curriculum and instruction. e. The teaching of creativity. f. Use of creativity instruments with at-risk gifted populations. g. Issues in teaching creativity. h. Conclusion. i. Questions for discussion. j. References. 18. Using Technology to Supplement Gifted Curriculum. a. Research and rationale for gifted learners and differentiation. b. Technology options that support gifted student needs and characteristics. c. Software and the gifted child. d. Hardware and the gifted child. e. Using technology to support teacher and parents of gifted children. f. Considerations in using technology with the gifted. g. Conclusion. h. Questions for discussion. i. References. 19. Instructional Strategies in Programs for the Gifted. a. A model for applying strategies in gifted classrooms. b. Question-asking strategies and models: The Socratic method. c. Productive complex strategies. d. Project work. e. Reading strategies across the curriculum. f. Homework as a deliberate strategy. g. Computer based learning. h. Consultation and collaborative approaches. i. Conclusion. j. Questions for discussion. k. References. 20. Instructional Management Strategies for Effective Curriculum Implementation. a. Grouping. b. Acceleration. c. Diagnostic-prescriptive approaches and compacting. d. Time management. e. Anchor activities. f. Learning centers. g. Record keeping. h. Questions for discussion. i. References. V. THE PROCESS OF CURRICULUM CHANGE. 21. Assessment of Gifted Student Learning. a. Problems in assessing gifted student learning. b. Assessing learning through multiple approaches. c. On-level standardized assessment. d. Portfolios. e. Performance assessment. f. Curriculum evaluation. g. Utility of results. h. Conducting curriculum evaluations. i. Conclusion. j. Questions for discussion. k. References. l. Appendices. 22. Educational Leadership in Gifted Programs. a. What matters in effective instructional leadership? b. Leadership for gifted: Leading in the middle. c. Leadership for gifted: Making change happen. d. Specific suggestions for systemic change and growth in gifted programs. e. Conclusion. f. Questions for discussion. g. References. 23. Toward Synthesis: A Vision of Comprehensive Articulated Curriculum for Gifted Learners.

Engineering Education: Innovation Through Integration

Abstract: The several reports and papers of the past decade suggesting paradigm shifts in engineering education are shown to reveal a common theme, to wit: engineering is an integrative process and thus engineering education, particularly at the baccalaureate level, should be designed toward that end. Suggesting a change in intellectual culture, the roots of contemporary collegiate education in the United States are traced to their origin and attention is given to discussing the current emphasis on reductionism vis-a-vis integration or, said another way, a course-focused education compared to a more holistic approach in which process and knowledge are woven throughout the curriculum. A new construct for systemic change in baccalaureate engineering education is suggested in terms of a taxonomy of intellectual components connected holistically with a core focus on developing human potential, as opposed to the present system in which students are passed serially through course filters.

The History of Special Education: From Isolation to Integration

Abstract: This comprehensive volume examines the facts, characters and events that shaped this field in Western Europe, Canada and the United States. From the first efforts to teach disabled people in early-Christian and medieval eras to such current mandates as Public Law 94-142, this study assesses the development of special education as a formal discipline. The book presents a four-part narrative that traces its emergence in detail, from 16th-century Spain through the Age of Enlightenment in 17th-century France and England to 18th-century issues in Europe and North America of placement, curriculum and early intervention. The status of teachers in the 19th century, and social trends and the movement toward integration in 20th-century programmes are considered as well.

Legitimating Lived Curriculum: Towards a Curricular Landscape of Multiplicity.

Abstract: "The lived curriculum" "the other curriculum" These words inscribed in the title of this article speak to the way I have already been claimed by curricular landscapes of practicing teachers and their students So claimed, I ask that I be allowed to dwell near, if not in the midst of, these landscapes, so that I may, by listening more thoughtfully to sayings of teachers and students, become more alert to the archi-texture of curricular landscapes within which activities like curriculum supervision, curriculum development, curriculum implementation, and curriculum evaluation are said to take place

Ethics in a short white coat: the ethical dilemmas that medical students confront

Abstract: Many existing ethics curricula fail to address the subtle yet critical ethical issues that medical students confront daily. The authors report on the kinds of dilemmas students face as clinical clerks, using cases that students submitted in 1991-92 during an innovative and well-received ethics class given at a tertiary care hospital as part of the internal medicine clerkship. Analysis of these cases reveals that many dilemmas are intimately tied to the student's unique role on the medical health care team. Recurring themes included the student's pursuit of experience, differing degrees of knowledge and ignorance among team members, and dealing with disagreement within the hierarchical authority structure of the medical team. The authors conclude that some components of ethical education must be participant-driven and developmentally stage-specific, focusing more attention on the kinds of ethical decisions made by medical students as opposed to those made by residents or practicing physicians.

Students' conceptions of the second law of thermodynamics—an interpretive study

Abstract: Thirty-four clinical interviews were conducted with Grade 10 students (15- 16 years old) who had received four years of physics instruction. The interview’s focus was to understand students’ responses from their point of view and not solely from the physicist’s angle. The results of the study confirm and deepen, on the one hand, findings from other studies concerning students’ severe difficulties in leaming the energy concept, the particle model, and the distinction between heat and temperature. On the other hand, students’ qualitative conceptions in a new area-the second law of thermodynamics-are revealed. For instance, in the case of irreversibility (i.e., the idea that all processes take place by themselves only in one direction), most students came to conclusions similar to those of modem physicists. But their explanations of irreversibility are based on significantly different conceptual frameworks. The results of the study suggest that a mere enlargement of the traditional physics curriculum by the addition of ideas of the second law is not sufficient to familiarize students with these ideas. A totally new teaching approach to heat, temperature, and energy is necessary. In this approach, basic qualitative ideas of the second law should be a central and integral part from the beginning of instruction.