C. Walter Hodges: A Life Illustrating History

C. Walter Hodges first came to prominence as the author/illustrator of Columbus Sails in 1939, which the Junior Bookshelf hailed as The best book never to have been awarded the Carnegie Medal. Widely acclaimed for the treatment of its subject matter, its powerful narration, and accompanying dramatic line illustrations, Columbus Sails was the first of a number of vivid historical novels written and illustrated by Hodges, including The Namesake (nominated for the 1964 Carnegie Medal), The Marsh King (1967), and The Overland Launch (1969). He is internationally recognised both for his indispensable and learned books about the Elizabethan theatre (for which he gained the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration in 1964) and his vital illustrations to other authors' texts. This timely article is based on interviews and correspondence between the author and Hodges, and traces and celebrates the latter's life and career as a writer, book illustrator, teacher, and scholar.     

An interview with John Christopher

John Christopher is a well known, prize-winning writer. His adult novelThe Death of Grass was runner-up for the International Fantasy Award when Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings won first prize. Similarly his children'sTripods trilogy,The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, andThe Pool of Fire, were all runners-up to the Guardian Award, whileThe Guardians won the Guardian award for 1971. HisSword trilogy, The Prince in Waiting, Beyond the Burning Lands, and The Sword of the Spirits, has been reissued by Puffin in a single volume. Some critics, such as John Rowe Townsend (inWritten for Children), have accused John Christopher of an underlying pessimism, or of male chauvinism. Christopher has not replied to these criticisms. He prefers to let his books speak for themselves. Unlike other writers who keep a high public profile, he has not spoken at conferences on children's literature or published essays which present or defend his point of view.Early in 1983 I wrote to John Christopher. What began as a simple fan letter developed into a series of questions, which he was kind enough to reply to at length: from this correspondence, with John Christopher's agreement, I have compiled the interview which follows.He has published articles on C. S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles (Cle 25), Patricia Wrightson's Wirrun trilogy, and on aspects of language education. He recently completed a graduate diploma in children's literature.     

Scribbles,scrawls, and scratches: Graphic play as subtext in the picture books of Ezra Jack Keats

Conclusion Although Keats works in a two-dimensional medium, his illustrations are fully three-dimensional in both geometric perspective and narrative intentionality. Using collage technique that floats planes of color on a sea of textural richness, Keats is able to maximize his voice, or voices, as he speaks to us through multiple images—personalities—embedded within his illustrative frame. Keats's technique, paradoxically, runs counter to the historical development of collage as a form of antiaesthetic criticism used by early surrealist painters. Whereas such painters as Duchamp, Arp, Schwitters, and Ernst strike out against traditional aesthetic categories, Keats embraces them, focusing upon the achievement of a certain rhythmic unity in his work. In this sense, he achieves the height of picture book art by dissolving the thin line between text and illustration, and he does so primarily by playing with various graphic images as subtexts that both clarify and extend his main narrative intentions.He is past recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Fellowship, de Grummond Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, and the author of several books for children includingNight is Coming (Dutton).     

Beauty and Character: Values Beyond Beauty in Architecture

Formalist conceptions of aesthetic goals began to give way from the 17^th century on to rationalist accounts of experience. Beauty as described as essential by Renaissance thinkers was reconceived as just one possibility, with the sublime in Burke's account as another. In the early 20^th century Clive Bell again asserted a formalist position with his argument for significant form. The weakness of the formality position, and the need for a richer, more contextual account of aesthetic goals and experience is argued with reference to the idea of thick and thin concepts as applied by Bernard Williams to ethics, Wittgenstein's attention to the way in which language is used in a specific context, and Scruton's emphasis on an informed conception of the object of aesthetic attention. Beauty, in Alberti's procedural account if not in his version of the Platonic ideal, can be seen to continue to have critical value. The idea of character, however, offers a broader range of possibilities for experience and of goals for design.     

Instrumentalism as an educational concept

Experiences of teachers give evidence that the usal distinction between instrumental and relational understanding, as defined by the psychologist, is insufficient to interpret learning in an educational context. The learner often possesses relational understanding of some knowledge, for which he sees no use, outside its importance as schoolknowledge. The author analyzes a more general concept of instrumentalism. He defines it as a rationale for learning, connected to the role school has as an instrument for future schooling and employment. Examples of use of the project method are given, which can help to establish another rationale for learning.Bergen State College of EducationThe author of this article is a senior lecturer at the Bergen State College of Education. He has practised for several years as a teacher in the comprehensive school, where he has worked especially among the slow learners. In his native language he has written several books on mathematics education.     

The use of student learning styles in teaching world politics

This article describes how experiential learning theory can be utilized to teach introductory world politics. Student learning styles and their modes of learning are considered in course design. The objective is to create a learning environment that facilitates active participation and reflection.He is coeditor ofConflict in American Foreign Policy: The Issues Debated (1985) and teaches primarily in the fields of American Foreign Policy and Soviet Politics. Patricia H. Murrell is Director of the Center for Study of Higher Education and a Professor in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services at Memphis State University. She is co-author ofLearning Styles: Implications for Improving Educational Practices (1987) and has studied the learning preferences of graduate and undergraduate students, including law students.     

Ted Hughes's Poetry for Children

This article considers the poetry written for children by the late Ted Hughes, the British Poet Laureate. Looking at work that spans the length of his career, this article examines Hughes's individual collections for children, both in their own terms as poetry and in terms of their intended audience. I suggest that Ted Hughes's poetry for children was an attempt, with varying degrees of success, to create a body of work that remained true to his gift of caging the minute within real and imaginary worlds, and that he expended considerable energy in staying faithful, not only to the world as he saw it, but also to the way his work appeared in, and took its place within, that world.     

The Language and Metaphor of Jean Piaget

The English translations of Piaget's work often miss qualities of his writing that distinguish his organismic model of psychology from more mechanistic models. This paper is a comparison of the English translations of Piaget's The Origins of Intelligence in Children and The Construction of the Real in the Child with the French originals. Three substantial differences between the French originals and the English translations are discussed: (a) many of Piaget's biological metaphors are altered in favor of more mechanistic ones, (b) some of Piaget's metaphors are entirely eliminated, and (c) Piaget uses metaphors to construct links between similar ideas. I conclude that the French originals offer more support for the assertion of Piaget's organismic model, and that the reader's understanding of Piaget is hindered by the exclusion of Piaget's metaphors from the English language texts.     

“The Crisis:” A practical realization of Kierkegaard's aesthetic philosophy

This analysis of Kierkegaard's article The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress (1848/1967) reveals his prodigious ability to deal synchronically with aesthetic philosophy of existence at both metaphysical and pragmatic levels. It also reveals his ability to view women as individuals in the realm of art. Here he is able to make the exception and grant women full equality in both the categories of eternity and temporality.     

Die Überwindung des Deweyismus in den USA

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Reflections on the defeat of Deweyism in USA

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Reflexions sur l'echec du Deweyisme aux etats-UNIS

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Nach einem Vortrag, gehalten am 26. August 1965 im Rahmen der diesjährigen internationalen Hochschulwochen in Alpbach über Europa und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Vgl. auch v. Verf. Amerikanische Bildungspolitik aus deutscher SichtPädagogische Rundschau Heft 1, Jg. 1966.     

Different aspects in designing mathematics education: Three examples from the Freudenthal Institute

Three teaching designs are offered. They were developed for 12 to 16 year old pupils taking into account their personal differences in terms of gender (in Making Up the Cube), culture (in Mecca), knowledge, and use of calculators in The integrating calculator. The designs concern the representation of three-dimensional objects in the plane, directions and great circles on the sphere, and exploration of the integrating calculator.     

Let's play: Teaching social skills

Alex is watching three other boys engage in a super-hero play act. The boys are playing Star Wars, protecting their fort from the Evil Warriors. For the past couple of days, Alex has walked near the same small group of boys and watched intently as the boys play out their drama. He moves close but says nothing.In another corner of the room, Emily and Jessica are playing house. Emily plays the mother and wants Jessica to assume the role of baby. Their play is interrupted by Jessica's refusal to be the baby. While Emily insists, Jessica refuses and soon, the play disintegrates.Steven, a new boy in the classroom, had been introduced to the class earlier in the morning. Now he is wandering from center to center, looking on as others became involved in their free choice of activity. The teacher is busy working with a small group in the science center, and Steven is on his own.Linda M. LeBlanc is Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Whittier College in Whittier, California.     

Three-dimensional symmetry

The errors made when high-school students locate reflections in horizontal, vertical or slanting mirrors were examined. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-six perspective drawings, each portraying an upright transparent cube containing a two-sided mirror, was given to 394 Australian students from grades 7, 9 and 11. On a corner, an edge, or a face of each cube was drawn either a point or a straight-line segment. The task was to draw its image (reflection). Analysis of errors revealed a strong tendency towards horizontal or vertical sliding, suggesting that the edges of the cube act in much the same way as a horizontal-vertical background grid does in the two-dimensional case.     

A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach: The DIT and Schema Theory

Macromorality concerns the formal structure of society, as defined by institutions, rules, and roles. Micromorality concerns the particular face-to-face relations that people have in everyday life. Kohlbergian theories are most useful for issues of macromorality. The Defining Issues Test (DIT) derives from Kohlberg's approach but makes several departures, including defining cognitive structures in terms of schemas instead of stages, reformulating the definition of postconventional moral thinking, and using different research strategies. The validity of the DIT is based on seven criteria (briefly discussed), and hundreds of studies have produced significant trends. Recent research derived from schema theory produces novel phenomena that link our theory of moral schemas more closely with information processing and decision making.     

Michigan education trust: Characteristics of first- and second-round enrollees in a state tuition prepayment plan

Pay Now, Learn Later Plan Proves Popular in Michigan, said the headline (N.Y.Times, August 12, 1988). The plan was the Michigan Education Trust (MET) advance tuition payment plan proposed by Governor James Blanchard in 1986. The Michigan Legislature approved MET at the end of 1986, and open enrollment for the first round took place in 1988. The second round of enrollment occurred in October, 1989. This research paper examines the characteristics of the first- and second-round enrollees, and it then compares the beneficiary (the legal term for the child who was enrolled) characteristics with those of the general population of the state and with the 1988 entering freshman classes of public universities in Michigan.Presented at the Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Louisville, KY, May 13–16, 1990.     

Strategies for enhancing learning in the “blow-off” course

Lower division courses are typically perceived by students as blow-off courses. We can overcome this image. This paper contrasts active and passivelearning environments, and describes efforts to create an active, critical learning environment in both Introduction to Sociology and The Family System-typical lower division courses in Sociology. A review of grade distributions, quantitative course evaluations, qualitative course evaluations, and a survey asking students to subjectively compare the active learning course structure to the typical multiple choice format provide evaluation data. Finally, the paper discusses problems in using these innovations.Randy Stoecker recently received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota, and has been exploring alternative pedagogies since 1982. He has published in the areas of social theory and social movements. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1988. Many thanks for insightful comments by Tuck Green, Ron Berger, and an anonymousInnovative Higher Education referee.     

Limits of Constructivism: Kant,Piaget and Peirce

The paradox of mathematical knowledge that mathematics cannot be conceived of as completely separated from empirical experience and yet cannot be explained by empiricist epistemology (for a slightly different and more elaborate formulation cf. Blackwell Companion to Epistemology, 270f), can only be resolved if one accepts that the causal interactions between knower and environment have themselves a generalizing tendency, a sort of continuity, rather than consisting just of singular events. Kant resolves the schism between the continous and the distinct in a constructivist manner. He assumes that all our knowledge-extending cognitions are synthetic. This synthesis does not lie in the matter of experience but springs from the function of cognizant consciousness. Piaget adhered to a Kantianism where the categories are not there at the outset. He conceives of the subject as constructing itself as well as of the emerging subject's structure as the source of the apprehension of the wo rld and believes in a Kantianism which emphasizes man's active being and potential for unlimited self-development. But he has no use for the Kantian idea of space and time as forms of mathematical intuition.Kantian thought is also central to Peirce's philosophy and conception of mathematics. But Peirce emphasizes the role of perception and analysis as its prerequisites. Peirce's and Piaget's origins in Kantianism are exhibited when both try to replace the Aristotelian notion of abstraction and generalization by something more suitable for mathematical epistemology. Peirce proposes that hypostatic abstraction is the chief explanation for the power of mathematical reasoning and explains: This operation is performed when something, that one has thought about any subject, is itself made a subject of thought. Piaget speaks of reflective abstraction in this context, making it the basis of mathematical knowledge; but separating it completely from empirical abstraction.     

Safe Discussions Rather Than First Hand Encounters: Adolescents Examine Racism Through One Historical Fiction Text

summary This article presents a case study class response to Mildred Taylors now classic and widely read novel, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. Through data collected during one school year, the ways urban, adolescent students use their contemporary lenses to interpret the literary theme of confronting, overcoming and challenging racism are discussed. The participants responses are organized into four reader response categories that explicate the complex and interactive interpretations developed by the children while reading the novel. In addition to providing insights about the participants textual understanding, pedagogical findings indicate that the book can also be used to explore the nature of racism while creating a safe space to confront and more deeply understand racisms impact on the past as well as the students current reality.     

Thirty-six things to do with a poem

At the 1980 conference of the National Association for the Teaching of English at Warwick University, a group of teachers considered the classroom teaching of literature. It seemed to the group that poetry was rarely popular with pupils in the schools that they knew, and that a checklist of ideas for teaching poetry might be helpful. The list is introduced here by the group's leaders, Geoff Fox and Brain Merrick. Specific contributions were also made by Graham Baldwin, Barbara Bleiman, Roz Charlish, Dave Klemm, Colin Padgett, and Andrew Stibbs.Geoff Fox and Brian Merrick have both taught in secondary schools and now work in the School of Education of Exeter University. They divide their time between teaching literature and method to student teachers and working alongside teachers in schools and on courses.     

Why bright college students won't teach

A case study of the career expectations of noneducation college seniors (primarily in high demand fields) reveals that present policies, such as career ladders, merit pay, and traditional college loan programs, may have little positive impact on their consideration of teaching as a career alternative. For the brightest of the students, the most significant reasons why they won't teach relatenot to the lack of financial reward in teaching, but to frustrating working conditions, bureaucratic requirements, the lack of professional control, and few opportunities for intellectual growth, as well as their intolerance for diversity in the workplace and their perception of teaching as a boring job. In most cases, these negative lessons about teaching were learned while they were public school students. The recent movement to professionalize teaching would appear to be an important step in luring these bright students into teaching. However, professionalism alone will not ensure a school district's ability to attract and retain bright college students as teachers.