Wertsch's clarification of Vygotsky's claims about the role of social interaction in the development of children's thinking made an important contribution to educational research. Revisiting that clarification, I suggest that "talk" instead of "speech" best describes Vygotsky's concern with the functional dynamics of dialogue rather than the…

Visual learning enhances cognitive understanding of abstract concepts. Perception of such ideas as causality is enriched by visual examples. Perceiving should not be separated from thinking. (SK)

Considers the value of preschool children saying the Pledge of Allegiance daily in their classrooms. Suggests that there may be better ways to help children grasp abstract concepts like patriotism and to provide developmentally appropriate ways to explore the symbol of the flag. (LB)

This paper examines the area of teachers' practical arguments (arugments consisting in the search for a plan of action), considering questions such as: How does rationality manifest itself in practice, and in specific human practices like teaching? Is practical reasoning in teaching moral? Do values of theoretical reasoning, such as universality,…

Presents a rebuttal to Hidi and Hildyard's (1976) criticism of Macnamara et al.'s (1976) assertion regarding the ability of four-year-old children to grasp implicatives and presuppositions. (AM)

This paper attempts to fill some of the gaps in the literature (on reflective teaching), delving further into the meaning and functions of reflection. First, it considers the origins of the term and some aspects of its development. It then analyzes and critiques some of the current notions of reflection. Beginning the process of a more rigorous…

Describes the importance of learning to connect separate universes of knowledge into a coherent whole. It is a mistake to emphasize connecting schools to the Internet without considering the kinds of thinking processes students need in order to learn from the information they access. (LMI)

This paper empirically examines one aspect of Basil Bernstein's sociolinguistic account of educational failure, a code thesis wherein a restricted code is defined as giving access only to "particularistic" meanings and an elaborated code is defined as giving access also to "universalistic" meanings. According to Bernstein,…