Classroom design and impression formation: A new area for research

Recently, educators and psychologists have begun to discuss the messages conveyed by different classroom designs. Although the arguments presented are persuasive, the basic contention—that classroom design influences impression formation—has not been empirically tested. The purpose of this article is to bring to the attention of educational psychologists the possibilities for research in this area. The paper summarizes the findings of some initial investigations and suggests directions for future study.     

Research on education in the developing countries

Developing countries are in a major educational crisis. Educational opportunity has expanded but quality has been sacrificed. In some instances the quality of education has become so low that one might do well to question whether the costs of expansion do not outweigh the benefits. Research on education has not prepared the developing countries to meet the crisis at hand. The article mentions three examples—in pedagogy, in curriculum and in ‘deschooling’ theory—where educational research has not been helpful. On the other hand, the article points to several areas where there has been useful work, and where new work might make a substantial contribution in the years ahead.     

Does the Brain Have a Place in Educational Psychology?

Byrnes and Fox (1998) present the case for the relevance of cognitive neuroscience in educational psychology, including both logical and empirical arguments. In this commentary, I begin by briefly reviewing the history of the case for including the brain in educational psychology: Early educational psychology—as reflected in Thorndike's (1926) educational psychology textbook—emphasized the neuronal basis of learning; contemporary educational psychology—as reflected in educational publications—tends to ignore the brain; and future educational psychology will need to overcome the pitfalls encountered in previous misuses of brain research. Next, I examine two logical arguments for Byrnes and Fox's case, namely, that including cognitive neuroscience research makes educational psychology more complete and more plausible. Then, I examine the empirical argument of Byrnes and Fox by focusing on the value of cognitive neuroscience research in attention and memory as well as in reading and arithmetic. Finally, I suggest criteria for evaluating the contributions of cognitive neuroscience research in educational psychology, including the need for research on educationally relevant tasks and issues.     

Educational reform in teacher preparation: Proposals,reactions, and implementation

The article by Benton and Hoyt provides data that creates an opportunity for a significant discussion concerning the role of educational psychologists in education reform. Education reform in teacher education has three identifiable stages. The first stage is the series of proposals that have been generated by a number of groups implying that education reform efforts will bring about positive change. The second component has been reactions or debates surrounding the proposals and significant changes proposed by national reports. Finally, there have been component parts of the proposals implemented in experimental ways in schools and colleges of education. Clearly, a segment of the educational psychology academic community has been involved in all three phases of education reform, and the need for maintaining a research posture and a demand for documentation of improvement is necessary from all educators—and in particular educational psychologists. The 1980s were the years for proposing and reacting. The years between now and the twenty-first century will be the time of implementation and evaluation of changes. The opportunity is present for active involvement of all interested educational psychologists. The article by Benton and Hoyt is a meaningful article for educational psychologists because it points out our differing opinions and provides some basis for us to understand our differences concerning specific issues in teacher education reform.     

A value-added student assessment model: Northeast Missouri State University

The Northeast Missouri State University Value-added Student Assessment Program developed from the proposition that an educational institution should be able to determine the value added to a person as he or she proceeds through that educational system. While traditional measurement practices assess normative output differentials. NMSU's Value-added Program attempts to measure gains in the total person — knowledge, skills, values, cultural awareness and other personal development — by measuring changes within each individual. The program has been in place for over a decade and impacts, today, nearly every aspect of the university: student development, academic curriculum, faculty development, university funding and fiscal formulas, long-range planning and even the regional accreditation association's institutional review. NMSU recently received the G. Theodore Mitau Award for Excellence in Higher Education for this program. The program's philosophy, evolution, implementation and impacts are described in this article.     

Social science, social relevance and the politics of educational development

This article raises some broad questions about the relevance of the current content and teaching methods in undergraduate social science generally. First, it examines critically the general teaching patterns which often stress the teaching of concepts, theory, history and techniques in isolation from current or historical problems. It next argues that our major methods of teaching—notably the lecture—contribute little to achieving the widely advertised pedagogic objectives of independent, critical thinking by students. Thirdly, it argues that we need to inject more relevance into the content of social science courses by shifting the emphasis towards a greater use of contemporary or historical problems or incidents as the starting point for the appreciation of theory and methods. It suggests that the teaching methods best suited to this are the various versions of the ‘case’ or ‘enquiry’ or ‘problem’ approach, which involve a more active participation by students in the process of learning, rather than their current passive role as consumers of teaching. Some illustrations of how this can be done are given. The article concludes by indicating some of the problems which are likely to be encountered in educational development of this kind. These problems are considered to be ‘political’ ones in that they involve a changed use and distribution of resources (of staff, students, times and buildings), which are likely to run counter to current systems of academic and institutional power, social organization, culture and ideology.     

Professional development: a key to Kentucky's educational reform effort

Despite its essential role in educational reform, professional development typically does not receive adequate support in systemic reform efforts. This article presents an exception—a state that incorporated professional development as a central priority in its reform effort and four schools that used state resources to build their capacity for enacting the reform agenda. We describe central features of Kentucky's approach to professional development, characterize elements of professional development within the four schools, and discuss how these elements promoted three dimensions of school capacity: individual teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions; professional community; and program coherence. Based on this “image of the possible,” we offer recommendations for professional development that supports systemic, standards-based educational reform.     

Unconscious Displacements in College Teacher and Student Relationships: Conceptualizing, Identifying, and Managing Transference

Transference is an unconscious displacement of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a previous significant relationship onto a current relationship—a phenomenon that teachers and students both enact with each other, sometimes resulting in a dramatic intensification of those relationships. Transference can pertain importantly to understanding and managing the complex, dynamic, intersubjective system that constitutes the educational helping relationship. Based on an analysis of over 350 items in the college teaching and transference literatures, this article provides: (a) a conceptual foundation for understanding transference, (b) 15 indicators of its possible occurrence, and (c) 9 recommendations for its effective management.     

Students,parents, educators: An approach to conflict of rights

Summary The two main approaches available for conflict resolution — in education as elsewhere — suffer from serious defects. The fundamental rights approach, popular with groups advocating certain real or fancied rights, presupposes that each individual or class of individuals has basic, over-riding entitlements. In the absence of an arbitrary or compelling consideration, however, this approach is torn and immobilized by inflexible, absolutistic claims. Our analysis in this paper shows no justification in the rhetoric of children/student rights' advocates, parent power movements, or beleaguered educators that their respective rights should be regarded as pre-eminent in educational conflicts. The second approach, intended to balance competing interests, either capriciously gives undue weight to one competing claim or leads to uncritical decisions based on unarticulated value presuppositions. Hopefully, a third approach could remedy these difficulties. The reconstructed Millian-Utilitarian approach suggested in this paper combines the use of balancing and of substantive principles based on defensible utilitarian values and pre-suppositions. In making this suggestion, the paper hopes to highlight the necessity for justices and decision-makers to deliberate more consciously, adequately, and rigorously on the values that undergird educational and social policies.     

The globalization ofSesame Street: A producer's perspective

Sesame Street, the Children's Television Workshop's pioneering educational television series for preschoolers, has become an international—as well as an American—institution. Licensed versions, adaptations, and coproductions of the series have been seen in approximately 115 countries. Children in 65 countries have viewed the series in its English-language form. In addition, the program has been coproduced in 13 other languages for broadcast in 50 countries. Each local adaptation ofSesame Street is unique, reflecting the varying educational, social, and cultural needs of children from country to country. This article documents the spread ofSesame Street—and the CTW research and development model—abroad, and includes several case studies of different foreign adaptations ofSesame Street.He works withSesame Street coproductions worldwide, providing onsite consultation through all phases of project development and production.     

Research and development at the Children's Television Workshop

Since its establishment in 1968, the Children's Television Workshop (CTW)—as a matter of policy—has incorporated research into the process of designing and producing educational materials. The first CTW project to use this team approach wasSesame Street, the educational television series created for in-home viewing by preschoolers. Today, the scope of CTW's efforts has widened dramatically to include other media (home video, print, computer software), other learning environments (schools, community organizations, afterschool child-care settings), and other national cultures. This article introduces this issue ofETR&D, which has been authored entirely by CTW researchers, producers, and executives. It describes CTW's approach to research and development, and sets out in broad terms the opportunities and constraints imposed by the environments in which the various projects and productions function.     

A System at Risk: College Outreach Programs and the Educational Neglect of Underachieving Latino High School Students

This literature review examines the ways in which college and university outreach programs impact Latino (and other minorities) high school students. This article demonstrates that the outreach programs outlined do aid in closing the gap of college enrollment for Latinos. However, a review of three representative programs—AVID, the University of California's Early Academic Outreach Program, and Upward Bound—reveals that the Latino students who exhibit the most need are summarily excluded from participating in the programs, thus leaving them on the margins of the educational system. One of the conclusions of this study is that the problem lies with the political nature of the programs, which causes them to have stringent eligibility criteria.     

From isolation to collaboration: A positive change for postgraduate women?

Social or intellectual isolation has been identified as a problem for many postgraduate students, particularly among subgroups in which women predominate. Newly developing collaborative postgraduate student groups complement the supervisor's role as an advisor and counteract the effects of isolation. However, the very method that may reduce isolation for women also entails risks. Research into gender and communication suggests that groups, often dominated by men, may not adequately serve the educational needs of women. This article brings together two separate strands of research: (a) studies of support groups, collaborative groups, or supervisory groups for thesis-writers; and (b) studies of gender-related communication patterns. The intersection of these areas of research provides a basis for suggesting how arrangements for, and research into, collaborative support groups for thesis writers can help to ensure that the potential of such groups for enhancing educational opportunities for all students—womens as well as men—is tapped and possible risks minimized.     

Structure of Scientific Knowledge and Curriculum Design

In the theory of teaching, the problem of interrelation between two types of cognition — the scientific and the educational — has been discussed for a long time. The author of this paper has come to the conclusion that logic of an educational subject does not unambiguously follow from the logic of science (paradigm). The same content of the course can be realized with the help of several isomorphous structures of equal value and consistent with the existing logic of science. The choice of structure is determined by educational aims, types of education institutions, periods of studies, the presence of connections between subjects and other conditions.     

Reconsidering curriculum development: A framework for co-operation

Conventional approaches to curriculum development employed in western countries have proved to be unsatisfactory. Much of the literature as well as the practice of curriculum development have focussed on two traditional stances — the administrative and grass-roots models — and neither has been able to accommodate concurrently the theoretical and practical objectives, skills, and needs of central administrators, teachers, and curriculum specialists. In this paper, a brief examination of the characteristics, prevalence, benefits, and major shortcomings of these two models provides a basis for describing an approach that may better fulfil the multiple and competing demands of educational administrators and users. The article elaborates upon and defends a theoretical plan for involving administrators and educators in co-operative curriculum development, and specifies additional organizational requirements and constraints which would need to be dealt with in order to effect its intent.     

Skills and knowledge needed by television production specialists in distance education

The purpose of this study was to examine what distance education-related skills and knowledge television production specialists had to learn in order to perform their jobs. The purposive sample for this study consisted of 12 full-time television production specialists who develop live, interactive, video-based educational programs at American universities. However, prior to employment at their respective universities, these television production specialists had no experience or educational background in the field of distance education. Qualitative methods were used to collect data. The analysis gave rise to the finding that television production specialists had to learn skills in two major areas—technical skills and personal/interpersonal skills—and knowledge of instructional design methods.     

Educational brokering: New services for adult learners

This paper describes a fast-growing variety of programs that directly enable adult learners to pursue educational and career plans within their communities. Educational brokering serves an intermediary role between individual clients and the vast array of educational resources in a region. This paper considers the missions of brokering—advisement, assessment, and advocacy—its organizational arrangements, and the sources of its support and development. Specific successes and impacts of brokering are presented, as is the importance of the brokering idea to several larger public policy issues. Efforts currently underway to expand brokering activities on a national level are also discussed.Dr. Heffernan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher/Postsecondary Education at Syracuse University and is Coordinator of Research and Editor of theBulletin of the National Center for Educational Brokering. He has been assisted in the preparation of this article by Francis U. Macy and Donn F. Vickers, Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the National Center for Educational Brokering, 405 Oak Street, Syracuse, New York 13203.     

Children's Literature in Adult Education

This article investigates the possible role of children's literature in the education of adult learners of English. This three-year study on adult learners of English from the People's Republic of China shows that children's literature can be effective in teaching linguistic skills such as pronunciation practice and improving language acquisition. Using and reading children's literature is an initial step to developing literary competence, critical thinking, increasing knowledge, and multicultural understanding as well as exposing learners from developing countries to effective innovative educational methodology. Despite the limitations of children's literature—identification with child protagonists—it paves the way to developing literacy in adult literature.     

Big books: How to make them and use them

Big — bold — beautiful — they're called big books, and preschool teachers are regularly discovering their exciting educational potential. Traditionally, using books with children is a practice that adults have used since they were first developed in the sixteenth century. Indeed, most preschool classrooms include centers which are called by a variety of names — book nook, book corner, book center, storytime center, reading center, or some other title. It's rare to find a child who does not respond to book reading or storytelling, and teachers of young children routinely plan time each day to read a book to their youngsters. Educationally, their use is acceptable practice for children of all ages. Laverne Warner is a professor of early childhood education at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX. This article draws on material published by the author in Texas Child Care Quarterly,(Summer, 1990), 13:4, 3–8.