An Academic Program Profile: Purdue University

Located in Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University has a well‐established history as a land‐grant university with strong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs. Purdue’s learning design and technology (LDT) program resides in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction within the College of Education. Residential PhD and master’s programs as well as fully available online master’s programs are provided. The LDT program has specialized offerings in a corporate or education track for their master’s students, embracing various needs and interest in corporate, government, and non‐profit settings as well as K‐12 and higher education settings, respectively. The LDT program has 10 full‐time well‐established faculty members, and they are actively involved in research and development activities, often involving students. The program is working on developing the knowledge and skills of the program’s graduates by incorporating innovative approaches such as competency‐based programs, badging, and portfolios. –Yeol Huh, PhD, and Sung “Pil” Kang, PhD, column editors     

Piagetian tasks as readiness measures in mathematics instruction: A critical review

The purpose of this review was to synthesize the research on the relationship between performance on Piagetian tasks of concrete operations and performance on mathematics learning tasks in order to determine whether the Piagetian tasks make useful readiness measures. The research consistently indicates that, while there is a positive correlation between performance on Piagetian tasks and mathematics achievement, many school mathematics tasks can be mastered by children who have not yet developed the reasoning abilities measured by Piagetian tasks. This does not diminish the validity of Piaget's theory, but rather suggests that the kinds of reasoning processes identified by Piaget are not essential in solving many school mathematics tasks.     

Designing electronic text: The role of print-based research

This is the 14th ERIC/ECTJ Annual Review Paper, preparation of which was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Information Resources, Syracuse University. The material in this article was prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education. Contractors undertaking such projects under govemment sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgement in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent the official view or opinion of the NIE.—Ed.