Introduction: This research addresses preschoolers' intuitive understanding of rectilinear movement and some variables which affect it, and the type of arguments used when related knowledge states are justified. A first working hypothesis is that the resolution of practical, functional situations would be based on self-regulation processes. A…

This study moves from theory to practice to theory. Through multiple narratives, I present how theory and practice work together to produce praxis, defined as critical pedagogy. The story takes place through my experience as teacher and researcher, but it shows how the theory takes place in practice on many different levels. I present a critical…

In the literature, learners' cognitive development is mainly discussed with respect to changes in learners' content-dependent knowledge (conceptual change or growth). Additional dimensions of time and complexity may also be taken into account to describe cognitive processes in at least three dimensions. We discuss these three dimensions of…

This paper reports the design and evaluation of small-scale teaching interventions addressing the epistemology of science as part of the regular high school science courses followed by English students. Although there is a growing consensus that the curriculum should include aspects of the nature of science, there is a limited body of knowledge…

This paper reports on a short-term ethnographic participatory action research project that engaged urban Canadian, street-involved "queer and questioning" youth in a multi-media enabled inquiry into peer housing and support needs. The "Pridehouse Project" (http://www.sfu.ca/pridehouse) was initiated by, and accountable to, a…

Teachers everywhere are being held accountable for their professional actions through the test-driven curricula sweeping the nation. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2002) makes it clear that promotion of reflective practice is an important component of teacher education programs. This multiple case study…

This book applies what has been learned in cognitive science to analyze the work force. Chapter 1 takes the point of view that the United States has problems in the creation and distribution of wealth and that many of the problems and their solutions lie in the characteristics of the work force. Chapter 2 presents a psychometric model of abilities…

This book provides an introduction to poststructuralism by examining a range of interrelated themes central to the field of education that focus on the critique of reason and the problematic nature of the subject. The first chapter examines the history of poststructuralism in terms of the broader canvas of European formalism, futurism, surrealism,…

Many of the precepts that characterize the conceptual and practical work of early childhood education have emerged from "inquiry" that focused on interpretive and qualitative features of the lives of teachers, children, and parents. This paper examines the continuing development of a wide range of "inquiry" approaches in early childhood education…

This paper addresses dilemmas in the practices of six teachers from the perspective of alternate paradigms of knowledge growth, particularly constructivism. The dilemmas focus on the relationships between theory and practice in the growth of knowledge in learning and teaching mathematics. The data for this study are drawn from a four-year…

This book articulates and defends the "theory theory" of cognitive and semantic development: the idea that very young children just beginning to talk are engaged in profound restructurings of several domains of their knowledge. These restructurings are analogous to theory changes. The children's early semantic development is closely tied…

This paper reports on a three-year case study of a secondary biology teacher that explores the use of two instruments: The Teachers Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (L. Richardson and P. Simmons, 1994) and the Secondary Science Teacher Analysis Matrix (J. Gallagher and J. Parker, 1995). The a priori research questions that guided this case study…

A major synthesis of the latest research on early language acquisition, this book explores what gives infants the remarkable capacity to progress from babbling to meaningful sentences, and what inclines a child to speak. The book examines the neurological, perceptual, social, and linguistic aspects of language acquisition in young children, from…

The roles of impersonal (or abstract) and relational (or connected) modes of knowing in the experiences of young adults were studied, and the ways the two converge are described in this report of the post-college phase of a 7-year longitudinal study of the epistemological development of college students, i.e., their assumptions about the limits,…

Based on a conference, this volume examines the past, present, and future of Native American studies. Native American studies seeks to understand Native Americans, America, and the world from a Native American indigenous perspective, and thereby broaden the education of both Native and non-Native Americans. Part 1 asks who Native Americans are…