The Usefulness of Time Lines in Learning Chronological Relationships in Text Materials

Methodological problems, have limited the usefulness of findings from experiments into learning by discovery. By using programmed instruction materials, a within-class design, and other controls, an attempt was made to remove confounding. Two tasks were used: concept learning and principle learning. For each task, a separate 2x2x2 factorial design containing sixteen Ss in each cell was used. Independent variables were instructional method (egrule and ruleg), school grade (9 and 5), and intelligence (high and average). A set of eight different measures, involving retention, transfer, and ease of relearning, was used for each task. It was found that the egrule and ruleg methods did not differ significantly, and that interaction between instructional method and the other variables was low.     

A Note on the Correction for Chance Success

A questionnaire was filled out by 108 graduates of a B.A. program in psychology. The subjects provided biographical data and information about credits in psychology, GPA, fields of interest, reasons for majoring in psychology, psychology-related employment during undergraduate study, plans for graduate study, occupational use of psychology after graduation, occupational and/or personal value of the B.A. program, value of faculty help and advisement, and outstanding characteristics of helpful faculty. Analyses of the data led to 11 conclusions, some of which confirm the findings of a previous study and others of which provide new information about the uniform as well as differential effects of the undergraduate curriculum.     

Critique

The authors find Lawson's article to be both incorrect as to facts concerning the preparation of physical education teachers and misleading in the attempted analysis of problems in professional preparation. As such, the arguments set forth in the article will confuse and mislead rather than edify readers. Problematic areas in teacher preparation and the typical disciplinary agenda for reform are reviewed. Lawson's complex arguments are reduced to simple statements and critical errors of logic and fact are identified.     

Profound understanding of emergent mathematics: broadening the construct of teachers’ disciplinary knowledge

We discuss the teachers’ disciplinary knowledge of mathematics in this article, arguing two main points as we report on a 2-year study involving 22 practicing teachers. First we argue that teachers’ knowledge of mathematics might be productively construed as a complex evolving form, a significant dimension of which is tacit knowledge. Second, based on our first point, we suggest that this knowledge is better understood as a learnable disposition than a domain to be mastered.