This article reports on findings from research aimed at examining new teachers' change over the first two years of teaching through their own perceptions, the perceptions of their students and analyses of the school culture in which they worked. Overall, a general pattern was found: most teachers developed according to a narrow, individual and…

This study examined the effects of concept mapping on the science achievement of middle grade science students. The subjects were 182 eighth-grade students, distributed into eight intact earth science classes by ability levels. The ability level variable also was examined as a possible effect on student achievement. Two teachers were involved in…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether memory support and elicited production differentially benefited fast mapping of new vocabulary (comprehension, production accuracy, and speed) in adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) compared with typically developing (TD) children matched for syntax comprehension. The study also examined…

Web-based learning has been proposed as a convenient way to provide professional development experiences. Despite quantitative evidence that online instruction is equivalent to traditional methods (Russell, 2001), the efficiency of this approach has not been extensively studied among teachers. This case report describes learning in an online…

College students learn differently than their professors. This disconnect between learning styles is not a new problem, however the problem has been magnified by the technology driven environment which exists in contemporary higher education. Students who grew up using computers and Playstations while surfing MySpace blogs and listening to their…

The purpose of software mapping is to delineate a method for software menu, tool, and palette use in the construction of elementary school science and mathematics curriculum activities. With this method, software "maps" were created for traversing science and math curriculum problems and activities using software. The other purpose of…

This study presents the strategy process of Finnish polytechnics using the balanced scorecard approach. The study extends the balanced scorecard from the communication and implementation of this strategy to the planning of the strategy. Stakeholders formulated a strategic managerial plan for the network of all polytechnics in Finland by applying…

Summarizes findings of a collection of research studies at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) aiding fundamental understanding of knowledge representation and its applications. Issues arising when a knowledge representation system is incorporated into an authoring language are discussed, including the problems of exteriorization, metacognition,…

Describes a study to investigate how effectively concept mapping can be used to focus children on their own learning in science and to provide a way of describing their own achievements. Findings indicate that some children were able to identify specific targets for future learning. Motivation and metacognition were the main areas of benefit. (PVD)

Assesses the utility and effectiveness of three interactive computer programs and associated print materials in instructing and modeling for undergraduates how to comprehend and reconceptualize scientific textbook material. Finds that "how to" reading strategies can be taught via computer and transferred to new material. (RS)

This study of 72 undergraduates examined whether theories of learning from text may be extended to hypertext and the effectiveness of hypertext on learning. Participants worked with either a highly structured, unstructured, or linear hypertext system. Results indicated that less structured systems promoted more active processing and a deeper level…

Describes the use of concept mapping in teaching complex notions in urban geography. Discusses the nature and characteristics of concept mapping, course context, three experimental exercises, and student responses in evaluations. Finds that concept-mapping techniques increased students' understanding. Emphasizes the continuing potential of this…

Reports on a study that analyzed and compared a restricted set of full-text articles from a sub-specialty of biochemistry in terms of co-occurrences and co-absences of words. The consequences for the lexicographical approach to generating artificial intelligence from scientific texts are discussed. (JAK)

Speculates about reasons for the lack of use of concept mapping as an instructional strategy. Concludes that the two main barriers to its extensive adoption are the epistemological beliefs of classroom teachers and the underlying philosophy of the curriculum. (Contains 45 references.) (DDR)

This article presents the author's comments on the article by Keith and Ender on sociology's disciplinary core being reflected in introductory sociology textbooks. The author mentions that Keith and Ender claim that if sociology has a disciplinary core, it "would logically be located in the introductory textbook." Furthermore, since a science is…