Choosing competency-based,humanistic and self-directed programs: The contribution of personality and reasoning

Fifty-five college women enrolled in competency-based, humanistic or self-directed education programs completed their California Personality Inventory and listed five reasons for selecting their program. CPI results indicated that self-directed students scored lower than other students on the Femininity Scale (p.001). Using Chickering's seven vectors of change as a framework, the study found competency-based students identifying purpose and competence, humanistic students identifying inter-personal relationships and integrity, and self-directed student identifying autonomy and purpose as reasons for enrolling in their nontraditional programs. The study used these results to question the mythology that adherents to different programs are of different personality types and to argue that differences in perceptions of purpose in education distinguish students in the three programs.     

Whitehead and a new look at teaching elementary science

If Whitehead is right, science teachers who try to increase student interest by making the science they teach more pure and by covering more material are going about their work in just the wrong way. Science, for purposes of precision in measurement, translates the dynamic world of feeling and force, of causal efficacy (for example, the San Francisco earthquake), into a static representation spatialized and given presentational immediacy (for example, the Richter scale). But notice that the Richter scale isn't very interesting (even as abstract art) apart from its connection, via symbolic reference, to the earthquake. Such reference is essential to give both a sense of reality and a feeling of interes to the subject, but it makes the science less pure, and it takes more time to cover the material. An example of teaching pure and impure formal logic is given as a case study.     

Critical thinking and the Spock Fallacy

Conventional instruction in critical thinking technique tends to conflate logical thinking with rational or good thinking. But in doing so, it ignores the creative and intuitive functions of rationality, thereby encouraging a mechanically rote approach to textual analysis, problem solving and problem construction. This overemphasis upon straightforwardly logical calculus of justification functions, and its concomitant deemphasis of intuitive pattern of discovery ones, constitute the Spock Fallacy. Its epistemological weakness and pedagogical hazards are explored.The author of two books and numerous articles, one of his specialties is philosophy of education and critical thinking.     

Exploring the Concept of ‘Habitus’ with Preservice Teachers Through the Use of Popular School Films

The thesis of this paper is that it is a productive venture to introduce preservice students to social theories that are typically not a part of teacher preparation programs. Examples of these theories are those associated with terms such as habitus, the carnivalesque, power / knowledge, seduction, detournement, the spectacle,la perruque, (the wig), and the art of making do,as well as others. In this paper, I describe a project that involved exploring the theory of habitus to problematize the tendency of preservice students to not think in terms of relations between what goes on in the classroom and what goes on in society. I introduced habitus by having preservice students read selected print materials and by having them view, analyze, and respond in writing to popular school films. Students also analyzed their experiences in classrooms in terms of habitus, making a connection between theory and practice.     

Critical incidents and critical requirements in mentoring

Many traditional faculty now find themselves working with nontraditional students. New faculty models such as mentoring have emerged in response to the new student. The purpose of this study was to examine the mentoring role at Empire State College, State University of New York, on the basis of mentors' behavior responses to mentor-defined problems. The Critical Incident Technique was the method used to elicit reported and recalled incidents which either facilitated or impeded mentoring. Significant problems cited in the findings included communications gap in mentor/student relationship and the student's incompletion of academic work. Typical corresponding responses to such problems included providing support, demythologizing the learning process, setting behavior limits, and assessing and reassessing student performance. On the other hand, the critical requirements which were inductively derived from the critical incidents, as well as the practical implications which were gleaned from the study, revealed a definite extension of the traditional faculty role.The original document from which this article was adapted, including an extensive bibliography is on file with University of Microfilms International, Ann Arbor Michigan, 48108.     

A Textbook Case of the Nature of Science: Laws and Theories in the Science of Biology

The two concepts law and theory are among the most important elements of the nature of science. They represent both the tools and products of science itself. Unfortunately, the variable meanings and use of these terms in general discourse and in other school disciplines results in much confusion with respect to their proper application in a science context. The project included the design of a six-part model definition for law and theory based on a review of the literature of the philosophy of science with special reference to biology. These model definitions were then compared with those provided in a range of U.S. secondary school biology textbooks. The majority of all current major U.S. secondary school biology texts were reviewed and analyzed with respect to how the concepts of law and theory were defined and applied, in an attempt to determine whether students and teachers using such texts would gain an accurate impression of these terms and the distinction between them. This study focuses on biology instruction since a life science course is completed as a graduation requirement by virtually all U.S. high school students and as such serves as a widely shared educational experience across the nation. The term law is rarely defined in any text but various laws such as those found in genetics are frequently included as examples. The term theory is frequently defined but with a wide range of completeness of the definitions. Only rarely are theories in biology included as examples.     

University and community: Evolving perceptions of the African university

For the past two decades universities in Africa have been engaged in a re-examination of their relationship with society. In the light of this, the popular characterization of the African university as reflecting colonial, international, stages of development, or levels of integration models, appears inadequate to describe the challenge involved in creating an African identity for the university. Similarly, conceptions of the university as an instrument for creating an educated, planned or changed society or to think of it in terms of preserving and reflecting the dominant features of society, seem inadequate to describe fully the demands of contemporary and future society upon the university. A new framework of thought is urgently required; such a framework would encompass the desired aims of both the university and society and the relationships - dynamic and organic - between them. This article attempts to formulate such a framework and indicates its implications for the structure, content and operation of the university in Africa.     

Special handling for special packages: Infant massage

There is a sigh of relief expressed when the notion of infant massage or, as it is sometimes called baby rub, is discussed among parents and professionals. The sigh of relief represents such feelings as, It's about time, or It makes so much sense, or I've been wondering about the very same ideas.illustrations by Barb DunnPhilip G. Rose is a special education teacher at the Early Learning Center in Oneida, NY.     

Science, Society, and Technology—Three Cultures and Multiple Visions

The article reviews the strikingly divergent viewpoints of intellectuals—scientists and non-scientists—about Science and Technology. It shows that while scientists implicitly accept the difference between Science and Technology, to non-scientists that difference is irrelevant. The most important differences between Science and Technology that lie in their relative scales, outputs and accuracy of predictions are highlighted. The complexity of and difficulty in trying to quantify the contribution of science and technology to economic growth are discussed. Views of science and technology that include their societal perceptions are recommended.     

Satisfying syndrome symptoms

I'm concerned about you, my husband began after I arrived home one evening from my job at the day care center. I've heard of an illness sometimes contracted by persons who spend a lot of time with children. Frankly, I think you may be displaying some symptoms.     

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.     

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.     

Three-dimensional art and sculpture

I am making it BIG (Evan). A secret slide with gold in there (Sydni). Look even a little car could fit in it (Joshua). This is a circle! Round, a tiger jumps through this hoop (Emily). Excitement runs high when children experiment with three-dimensional art projects using paper, boxes and styrofoam.Liz Seelhoff Byrum teaches four- and five-year-olds at a private school in New York City.     

Using problem solving teaching styles to prepare candidates for the CXC basic proficiency examinations

Two Grade 10 classes in an urban Jamaican High School were taught over a period of one academic year in two problem solving styles: an Explicit Style derived from Charles, and an Implicit Style derived from Isaacs. At the end of the academic year there was no significant difference in their performance on a problem solving test, or on the Problem Solving Profile of the Caribbean Examinations Council's Basic Proficiency papers. The two classes performed much better than the population who sat the Basic papers on the tasks measuring Recall and Algorithmic Thinking but only moderately better than the population on tasks measuring Problem Solving.The teaching project described in this paper was supported in part by grants from the Research and Publications Fund Committee of the University of the West Indies (Mona), and the Wolmers Trust, Kingston. The author wishes to thank the Registrar and the Pro-Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council for permission to use the CXC papers and data in this study. A modified version of this paper was presented at the 63rd Annual Conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held in San Antonio, Texas in 1985.     

More Than a Pipeline Problem: Labor Supply Constraints and Gender Stratification Across Academic Science Disciplines

Employing a nationally representative sample of science faculty in U.S. colleges, we investigate 3 explanations for persisting differences in women's faculty representation across science fields even after adjusting for women's variable representation among doctoral recipients. First, we examine labor market factors: (a) differential growth rates and critical mass in the supply of women doctoral recipients, (b) growth or contraction in academic and nonacademic job opportunities, and (c) presence of foreign-born scholars. Second, we control for institutional explanations such as differential rates of faculty unionization and less receptivity to women at prestigious or research-oriented universities and fields that are applied, soft, or nonlife sciences. Third, gender role explanations are addressed by controlling for gender differences in work experience, work interruptions, and the prestige of doctoral credentials. After finding that none of these explanations account fully for distinctive patterns among science fields in the faculty gender composition, we discuss how they may reflect differences in academic cultures.     

Ghosts as rhetorical devices in children's fiction

The relationship of past and present and the linking of characters through time and place are themes that underlie the work of many writers for children. This article considers the use of the Ghost as a literary device to allow the exploration of what is, what has been, and what might have been, particularly in the 1973 Carnegie Medal Winner,The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, by Penelope Lively.Judith Armstrong was brought up in Lancashire. She has travelled widely, and taught young children in England and Ethiopia. She is currently working on themes associated with the supernatural in children's books.     

Higher education as a political issue area: A comparative view of France,Sweden and the United Kingdom

The common view in the literature on higher education in Western Europe is that the issue area has increasingly become enmeshed with national politics in recent decades. This article examines the extent to which this is true of France, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Six indicators of issueness, corresponding to important political actors/arenas, are used to identify temporal and cross-national patterns. It is argued that although it is evidently true that a politicization has occurred it may easily be overstated. Higher education remains a relatively minor concern in the national politics of the three countries. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as in France in 1968, is this pattern of subsystem politics replaced by a pattern of macropolitics. The analysis furthermore suggests the considerable variation in patterns of issueness which may exist between different national contexts.This article was written while the author was visiting with the Higher Education Research Group, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University. He is indebted to the members of the Group for their helpful comments on an earlier version.     

Do transitional classrooms really provide transitional time?

In the United States, kindergarten marks the beginning of formal schooling for more than 3 million children each year (Shepard & Smith, 1986). At the end of the kindergarten year, most of these children demonstrate expected levels of achievement and are promoted to traditional first-grade classrooms. Others are labeled unready or immature for successful performance in today's academically rigorous first grade. In most elementary schools, the placement for these at-risk children is either retention in kindergarten or social promotion to first grade. An alternative in approximately 17% of the nation's elementary schools is assignment to a transitional classroom between kindergarten and first grade (Educational Research Service, in press). This additional year of instruction is often viewed as a gift of time — time for children to mature and make a gradual transition from kindergarten to first grade.Judith E. Stroud is Assistant Professor of Elementary Education, Ball State University, Munice, IN. R. Ann Williams is Professor of Elementary Education, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.     

Pictorial Illustrations Still Improve Students' Learning from Text

Research conducted primarily during the 1970s and 1980s supported the assertion that carefully constructed text illustrations generally enhance learners' performance on a variety of text-dependent cognitive outcomes. Research conducted throughout the 1990s still strongly supports that assertion. The more recent research has extended pictures-in-text conclusions to alternative media and technological formats and has begun to explore more systematically the whys, whens, and for whoms of picture facilitation, in addition to the whethers and how muchs. Consideration is given here to both more and less conventional types of textbook illustration, with several tenets for teachers provided in relation to each type.     

Introducing micro-computers to micro-learners through play

Computers, once available exclusively to wealthy industries, are now rapidly becoming as familiar in preschool and kindergarten classrooms as block and crayons. Articles making claims such as Learning by Computers at Age 4 and Computers Preparing Preschoolers for Kindergarten now permeate the news media. Increasing numbers of child care centers, attempting to maximize public interest in computers, now readily advertise Computer Tutor in their literature. Computer Tutor is often even listed above other important qualifications such as certified teachers and professional affiliations of centers.Theresa Rubens has had extensive experience working with children in both family day homes and child care centers. Jennifer Poole is the Nursery Director at the First United Methodist Church in Carrollton, TX. James L. Hoot is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.