Some interrelationships between constructivist models of learning and current neurobiological theory,with implications for science education

Recent advances in the neurosciences have begun to elucidate how some fundamental mechanisms of nervous system activity can explain human information processing and the acquisition of knowledge. Some of these findings are consistent with a cognitive view of constructivist models of learning and provide additional theoretical support for constructivist applications to science education reform. Current thought at the interface between neurocognitive research and constructivist philosophy is summarized here and discussed in a context of implications for scientific epistemology and conceptual change processes in science education.     

More than meets the eye: patterns and shifts in middle school mathematics teachers’ descriptions of models

Modeling is a major topic of interest in mathematics education. However, the field’s definition of models is diverse. Less is known about what teachers identify as mathematical models, even though it is teachers who ultimately enact modeling activities in the classroom. In this study, we asked nine middle school teachers with a variety of academic backgrounds and teaching experience to collect data related to one familiar physical phenomenon, cooling liquid. We then asked each participant to construct a model of that phenomenon, describe why it was a model, and identify whether a variety of artifacts representing the phenomenon also counted as models during a semi-structured interview. We sought to identify: what do mathematics teachers attend to when describing what constitutes a model? And, how do their attentions shift as they engage in different activities related to models? Using content analysis, we documented what features and purposes teachers attended to when describing a mathematical model. When constructing their own model, they focused on the visual form of the model and what quantitative information it should include. When deciding whether particular representational artifacts constituted models, they focused on how the representations reflected the system under study, and what purposes those representations could serve in further understanding that system. These findings suggest teachers may have multiple understandings of models, which are active at different times and reflect different perspectives. This has implications for research, teacher education, and professional development.     

Visual and auditory memory: Relationships to reading achievement

In two experiments, visual and auditory memory was tested for good and for poor readers from the upper elementary grades. Under experimenter-blind conditions, no reading group differences existed for single mode presentation in recognition frequency or recognition latency. With a multimodal presentation, latencies for poor readers were similar to those for the single mode presentation. Good readers, however, had significantly faster latencies with multiple input. Generally, results supported dual coding and self-terminating memory search hypotheses for previously encoded stimuli. Implications of the latency differences between reader groups were discussed with respect to the reading process and reading theory.     

Keywords and vocabulary acquisition: Some words of caution about words of assistance

Consistent results of two experiments with relatively technical, native language vocabulary, showed that effectiveness of keyword methods depended upon whether meanings of words to be learned were abstract or concrete and whether comprehension was assessed immediately or after a delay. Keywords bearing acoustical similarities to vocabulary items whose meanings were presented as sentences consistently facilitated students’ retention of the meanings of concrete items on immediate posttests. However, in contrast to recent research on foreign language vocabulary having simpler definitions, these experiments showed that it may be difficult to use the keyword method to aid long-term retention with moderately complex. abstract, native language vocabulary. Parts of this study, which was partially supported by the Kansas State University Bureau of General Research, were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, 1980.     

OFSTED, Inspection and the Betrayal of Democracy

Drawing briefly on the quite different discourses of schooling-as-performance and education-as-exploration, the paper opens by exploring some of the consequences of the distinction between schooling and education for any system of school inspection. The second section of the paper examines the conceptual and practical inadequacy of 'accountability' as an agent of reciprocal public engagement in a participatory democracy. In its stead a more robust, more open notion of 'reciprocal responsibility' is offered as a more fitting means of professional and communal renewal. Section III focuses on the relationship between means and ends that is at once central to democracy and so conspicuously absent from current inspection arrangements. The short conclusion suggests we need a radical break from OFSTED if we wish to approximate more closely to our democratic aspirations.