The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) engage students in the epistemic, or knowledge building, components of science through three-dimensional learning. Each scientific domain has its own epistemic aspects that result from different social groups going about science in different ways to conceptualize different bodies of knowledge; education…

"Using Educational Psychology in Teaching" helps readers learn to apply educational psychology theories and research to their own classroom practice. This book teaches using an integrated-case approach, with every chapter starting with a true-life classroom case study. The case is then woven throughout the chapter. The 12th Edition…

This activity motivates students of communication research methods by challenging them to face their personal epistemologies. We introduce them to a set of formal ways of knowing and match these with their personal justifications for knowledge. Through this exercise, students learn that the scientific method is worthy of study not just to pass a…

In "Small Teaching K-8," a team of veteran educators bridges the gap between cognitive theory and the K-8 classroom environment, applying the same foundational research found in author James Lang's bestselling "Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning" to the elementary and middle school setting. Via clear…

As an emerging interest area, positive communication scholarship focuses on issues of happiness and well-being in a variety of social contexts. Borrowing from positive psychology and happiness literature (Lyubomirsky, 2008), positive communication research explores expressions of gratitude, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, as well as issues…

Co-written by a professor of philosophy and a practising primary school teacher, "Philosophy for Young Children" is a concise, practical guide for teachers. It contains detailed session plans for 36 philosophical enquiries--enough for a year's work--that have all been successfully tried, tested and enjoyed with young children from the age of three…

Presents the reflections of students on a problem given in May, 1996 issue of this journal in order to share the thinking of middle school students. The problem concerned weighing on a double per balance if given a clump of clay, and a 20-gram and 50-gram balance. (ASK)

Explores the apparent conflict in writing instruction between an emphasis on general versus local (specific) knowledge. Explains that the general knowledge focus is based upon cognitive rhetoric, whereas the local knowledge perspective comes from social theories of knowledge. Argues for a pluralistic theory of expertise which incorporates both…

Recommends the use of an instructional strategy that is ideal for examining students' conceptions of the nature of science. Defines cooperative controversy as a situation in which one person's ideas, information, conclusions, theories, or opinions are incompatible with those of another. (DDR)

Surveys modern language and cognitive theories and their implications for the teaching of undergraduate composition. (JL)

Discusses how the eloquent "I" cultivates a deepened self-dialogue and offers students an epistemological and rhetorical discipline. Reconfigures Mikhail Bakhtin's ethics of "otherness" and his dialogic-prompted way of knowing. Discusses looking for the eloquent "I" in the writing classroom. (SG)

Discusses thinking about thinking and the generation of ideas. Makes the case that people are naturally creative and that consciously applying some key elements of creative thinking to their jobs every day can elevate their interpretive tools to a new level. (MM)

Reviews Kenneth Pike's tagmemic theory and its application to rhetorical concerns generally. Explains his epistemological assumptions. Presents a model for speech classroom use, which allows rhetors to channel their thought processes consciously and to vary their perspectives in search of a fuller understanding of any subject. (PD)

Explains how insights on the nature of consciousness can be applied to the teaching of English. (JL)

Discusses the ways language shapes meaning and knowledge. Considers how writing instruction is vitally linked to the concepts of social constructionism. Outlines a class exercise in which the teacher shares an essay-in-progress with students and discusses the idea of writing and revision as "conversation." (HB)