John Mergendoller

Problem-Based Learning: Modifying the Medical School Model for Teaching High School Economics.

Abstract Many students enroll in high school economics thinking they will face a semester of dry, uninspiring information about vague principles that fall under the rubric of “the dismal science.” As late as 1960, “economics in the (high) schools simply was not accepted by college and university economists as a respectable area of professional concern.” Instruction in the course, if such a course existed, was “descriptive, dry and rarely included economic analysis.” The profession took note and, thirty years later, claimed dramatic improvements. More high school students took economics, and the high school course contained more analytic rigor and less description and often covered basic economic concepts. Furthermore, high school teachers were better prepared as a result of taking credit course work and attending non-credit programs in economics (Walstad 1992).

Attitudes Toward Computers and Computer Use

AbstractThe present study examined the relationship between alternative high school students’ attitudes toward computers and computer use over a four-month period. Students’ experience with computers was minimal at the onset of the study. Computers were used primarily for word processing, and computer use was tracked using an internal tracking system. Results revealed that girls’ attitudes toward computers improved over the course of the study while boys’ attitudes did not. However, there were no overall gender differences in actual computer use nor did computer use increase across the course of the study. Results also revealed that boys’ attitudes toward computers and actual computer use were relatively unrelated, while girls’ attitudes toward computers and actual computer use converged across the course of the study Finally, results revealed that boys’ attitudes and behaviors toward computers were relatively stable, with strong pretest/posttest correlations, while girls’ attitudes and behaviors were not...

Instruction Addressing the Components of Scientific Literacy and Its Relation to Student Outcomes

The instruction of 11 seventh-grade life science teachers was observed to determine the extent to which they made linkages between science content and its societal, reasoning, historical, or attitudinal implications. Such linkages were hypothesized to facilitate students’ scientific literacy. Data on students’ perceptions of teacher instruction and scientific literacy outcomes were also gathered. Results showed that (a) teachers rarely or never addressed the noncontent components of science in their presentations and academic work assignments; (b) students perceived content as the prominent focus of their teachers’ instruction; and (c) teachers’ references to the noncontent components were unrelated to growth on all but one student outcome, where the association was negative. Altogether, the results indicate a large gap between scientific literacy as a normative goal of science instruction and current teaching practice. Furthermore, natural levels of reference to the noncontent components may be of such low frequency and quality as to preclude empirical tests of their effectiveness.

Developing a problem-based learning simulation: An economics unit on trade

This article argues that the merger of simulations and problem-based learning (PBL) can enhance both active-learning strategies. Simulations benefit by using a PBL framework to promote student-directed learning and problem-solving skills to explain a simulated dilemma with multiple solutions. PBL benefits because simulations structure the information students receive to focus learning on the intended curriculum and increase the strategy’s effectiveness in a wider variety of venues. A combined strategy—a PBL simulation— places its simulation at the forefront of learning and helps students and teachers sift through the overwhelming complexity that can arise in a more pure PBL. The authors illustrate the strength of a PBL simulation with an economics unit on trade, titled THE GREAT AWAKENING.

The Relationship Between Teachers’ Theoretical Orientation Toward Reading and Student Outcomes in Kindergarten Children With Different Initial Reading Abilities:

We examined the relationships between kindergarten teachers’ theoretical orientations toward reading, classroom process and task assignment, and student outcomes for students who had scored above or below the population median on a standardized test of early reading ability. The reading achievement of lower scoring children improved the most in whole language-oriented classrooms, while higher scoring children in both whole language-and phonics-oriented classrooms and lower scoring children in phonics-oriented classrooms demonstrated lesser reading gains. Whole language-and phonics-oriented teachers emphasized different literacy tasks. Students in whole language-oriented classes spent a greater proportion of class time attending to nonbook print, using invented spelling, and dictating stories. Children in phonics-oriented classes spent a greater proportion of time looking through books on their own; copying letters, words, and sentences; and completing worksheets. Lower scoring students exhibited higher levels of engagement in whole language-oriented classrooms than in phonics-oriented classrooms. Implications for kindergarten instruction with children of differing initial reading abilities are discussed in the context of a stage model of reading development.

Introduction: The Role of Research in the Reform of Middle Grades Education

The Elementary School Journal Volume 93, Number 5 o 1993 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/93/9305-0001

Changes over time in kindergarten holding out: Parent and school contexts

01.00 For nearly 100 years, educators, in varying numbers and intensity, have been calling for reform of middle grades schools and classrooms (Clark & Clark, 1993, in this issue; Cuban, 1992; Oakes, Quartz, Gong, Guiton, & Lipton, 1993, in this issue). More recently, the Carnegie Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, and departments of education in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and other states have issued similar calls investing their prestige and money in the cause of middle grades reform. From a variety of perspectives, there is agreement that the traditional middle grades school has not adequately served the capacities, motivations, and aspirations of early adolescents (Carnegie Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents, 1989; Eccles, Midgley, Wigfield, & Feldlaufer, 1993, in this issue; Lipsitz, 1977; Maehr & Anderman, 1993, in this issue; Tye, 1985). There is also agreement regarding the steps that should be taken to reform middle grades education (Carnegie Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents, 1989; Superintendents Middle Grade Task Force, 1987). Given the factionalism and dissension

Comparing Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Instruction in High School Economics

Abstract This study examined the prevalence of holding age-eligible children out of kindergarten in a single Northern California county, and the changes in this phenomenon over time. The sample included 861 boys and 843 girls in 1988 to 1989 and 975 boys and 894 girls in 1991 to 1992, from 30 schools. In 1988, approximately 19.3% of kindergarten boys and 9.1% of kindergarten girls throughout the county were older than their classmates as a result of having been held out of school. In 1991, the corresponding figures were 11.4% and 3.7% for boys and girls respectively. Parental soeioeconomic status (SES) was associated with holding out boys, but not girls, in both 1988 and 1991. Specifically, schools with higher SES parents overall had a higher percentage of boys held out. A significantly greater percentage of parents in 1988 were concerned about the appropriateness of the kindergarten classroom for their child than parents in 1991. This study was unable to identify relationships between holding-out and teacher reports of change in kindergarten expectations, practices, and enrollment policies.