Survey data from 174 university students are presented, on a scale designed to measure preference for absolute knowledge and perspective in instruction, including online discussions. Results demonstrate a strong effect of class level such that students in lower grade levels reported a greater preference for instruction involving unambiguous…

This essay suggests that a profound philosophical misunderstanding exists concerning western science and its application to education and specifically to teaching. Based on the analysis of Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, the paper suggests that western identifying principles have taken on the role of "games" where deep introspection is…

This paper explores the relevancy of apprenticeships for professional training. While often neglected in current educational theory, apprenticeship training is common in the arts and in the mentoring and supervision of professionals. The apprenticeship model may provide solutions for some of the problems of the current educational system such as…

This paper recognizes current interest in "the practical," particularly in research on teaching, and it explores similarities or distinctions between underlying conceptions of the practical across several programs, research projects, and scholarly reflections on teaching. Following an introduction, the paper reviews three research…

A study of learning strategies in second language learning, of both English and other languages, presents a theory of the role learning strategies play and uses it to examine specific studies and to integrate research results. The research and theory described here are based on a cognitive information processing perspective of human thought and…

"What is it like to be in teaching together?" has been the guiding question for this hermeneutic phenomenological study with the full-time faculty of a small engineering college. It notes the faculty struggles and conflicts arising from diverse ways of knowing associated with gender and academic discipline differences. It also explores differing…

A study identified four principles, based on transfer of learning research and cognitive theory, for guiding curricular decisions, instructional development, and teaching practices in ways that support transferable learning. The principles were as follows: (1) emphasize intermediate-level knowledge in curricular decisions; (2) create in the…

A case is presented to advance education on citizenship within the culturally diverse societies of the developing world. The neglect of a positive approach to citizenship education in the period surrounding decolonization may have contributed to the fact that so many developing nations find themselves with social, political, and economic…

Noting that linguistic and mathematical/logical are the two kinds of intelligences the educational system encourages and that the educational system, as well as science in general, tends to neglect the nonverbal form of intellect, this paper describes Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory and Peter Kline's theory of integrative learning…

An overview of current theories of reading and the acquisition of literacy skills by children is presented. A research framework in which reading can be described in terms of the processes employed in other language uses is introduced and used to explain the failure of some children to learn to read. An ongoing research program is described that…

The facets of teachers' views of mathematics include their personal views, how they view mathematics for their students, how they view the mathematics curriculum, and how they view mathematics teaching. This paper reports a pilot study to examine how elementary school teachers view mathematics both personally and for their students. A coding…

This paper uses an epistemological framework to address the nature of the interactions among authors and responders in professional journals in the context of how such dialog affects the "states-of-the arts." It articulates the rhetorical strategies in four logics-in-use relating to posited epistemological domains, as well as…

Theories of learning and instruction usually are grounded in psychological and epistemological assumptions. However, these theories ignore the child in relation to his or her cultural and institutional context and ignore the schoolteacher from the social context that regulates the process of transmission and acquisition of knowledge and skills.…

Basic research into the mechanisms and functions of the brain carried out in the past 25 years has provided evidence that humans do, indeed, experience two ways of knowing. More recent research has explored the nature of the apparent perceptual bias--or way of knowing--of each brain hemisphere, and this information, which has changed thinking…

Intended for elementary school language arts teachers, this paper outlines some recent work in the area of cognitive functioning and shows how this highlights the necessity for great care in fostering a child's language competence at two different stages: very early childhood and early to middle primary school. Following an introduction, the paper…