Patricia A. Alexander

Coming to Terms: How Researchers in Learning and Literacy Talk About Knowledge

Terms used to designate knowledge constructs have proliferated in the literature and often seem to duplicate, subsume, or contradict one another. In this article, we present a conceptual framework for organizing and relating terms that pertain to select knowledge constructs. We begin with an examination of the literature. Based on that review, we build a framework that is intended to clarify terms, and the associations among them, and to articulate definitional statements for these knowledge terms. Finally, we consider the importance of this theoretical undertaking for future research in cognition and in learning.

The Interaction of Domain-Specific and Strategic Knowledge in Academic Performance:

This paper presents the results of an extensive review of the literature that relates to the interaction of domain-specific and strategic knowledge on academic performance. Our objectives in this review were to: (a) provide a critical analysis of that literature, (b) present hypotheses about the interaction between domain-specific and strategic knowledge as presented in the research, and (c) offer recommendations for future investigations on the interaction of domain-specific and strategic knowledge.

The Development of Expertise: The Journey From Acclimation to Proficiency

The Model of Domain Learning (MDL) is an alternative perspective on expertise that arose from studies of student learning in academic domains, such as reading, history, physics, and biology. A comparison of the MDL and traditional models of expertise is made. The key components and stages of the MDL are then overviewed. Discussion concludes with a consideration of evidence-based implications of this model for educational practice.

The Role of Subject-Matter Knowledge and Interest in the Processing of Linear and Nonlinear Texts

Sixty-six studies were reviewed that met several a priori criteria. Specifically, the studies had to be empirical investigations that related to a particular academic domain and that involved connected discourse presented either in traditional written form or on computer. In addition, the studies had to incorporate some measure of both knowledge and interest. The resulting body of literature was first summarized and analyzed in terms of the domains chosen, the subjects selected, the nature of the texts used, the manner in which knowledge and interest were assessed, and the principal outcomes reported. Next, from this analysis, six premises were proposed as guides for future research and practice. Finally, concluding remarks were advanced that address the overall significance of text-processing research that interactively considers the domain of knowledge and the interest of the reader.

Motivation and Performance Differences in Students’ Domain-Specific Epistemological Belief Profiles

Cluster analysis and analysis of variance procedures were used to identify students’ domain-specific epistemological belief profiles and to examine differences in students’ beliefs, motivation, and task performance. Four hundred eighty-two undergraduates completed measures regarding their beliefs about knowledge, competency beliefs, and achievement values relative to history and mathematics and participated in domain learning tasks. Cluster analysis was used to identify epistemological belief profile groups within the domains of history and mathematics. Students with more sophisticated belief profiles had higher levels of motivation and task performance. Although the configuration of profiles differed across domains, cross-domain analyses suggested a tendency for students to be relatively consistent in the sophistication of their beliefs across domains. These findings provide evidence of the dual nature of epistemological beliefs.

What Is Learning Anyway? A Topographical Perspective Considered.

The overarching purpose of this treatise was to develop a means by which to describe and evaluate existing perspectives on learning and to guide future explorations in this domain. Specifically, using the metaphor of a river system, we advance a framework into which theoretical perspectives and empirical investigations of learning can be positioned. We began by articulating nine principles of learning shared by diverse theoretical orientations. The primary focus of our analysis was a framework with four dimensions of learning (i.e., the what, where, who, and when) in continual interaction constituting the products and processes of learning. Based on these common principles and the interactive dimensions, we offered a definition of learning. Finally, we used three cases drawn from real-life experiences, and representing different configurations of the what, where, who, and when dimensions, to illuminate the comprehensiveness and utility of the topographical perspective on learning forwarded.

Reading Into the Future: Competence for the 21st Century

In this theoretical contribution, our purpose is to examine the nature of reading competence as it unfolds at the present and to project that nature into the future. More specifically, we ask what it will mean to be a competent reader for the 21st century and what combination of knowledge, beliefs, abilities, and processes that competence will require. To address this question, we begin by presenting our view of reading as essentially multidimensional, developmental, and goal directed, and of the development of reading competence as framed by research on expertise development and on the role of epistemic beliefs. With that view in mind, we then identify salient features of the current context and how they might present challenges that will make the development of competent readers even more vital as we move into the future. Finally, we forward three suggestions for supporting readers in their growth toward competence for this century.

Nurturing the seeds of transfer: a domain-specific perspective

Abstract Transfer, the process of using knowledge or skills acquired in one context in a new or varied context, has long been the topic of spirited debate in the research community. In this chapter, fundamental dimensions that appear to underlie effective transfer are described. These fundamentals — subject-matter knowledge, general cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and motivation, particularly interest — are referred to as the seeds of transfer. As a means of presenting these fundamentals, five generalizations about transfer, drawn from the extensive literatures in transfer, domain learning, and analogical reasoning, are summarized. In addition, potential instructional barriers to transfer are highlighted, along with critical steps deemed necessary to enhance transfer within academic settings.

Integrated, Constructivist Education: Challenge and Reality

Although the desire for an education that emphasizes depth of understanding and meaningful learning has a long and distinguished history, constructivist reforms have not led to a comprehensive and coherent reform of educational practice in our schools. In fact, two previous “great reforms” based on constructivist principles have failed during this century. In this special issue ofEducational Psychology Review, authors focus on specific challenges faced in the current constructivist reform, including the need for viable intradisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and cross-disciplinary integration. Exemplars of the reality of progress made in integrated, constructivist approaches in the classroom follow. Diversity in our schools and classrooms and the challenge of high standards for all students contribute to the need for an integrated, constructivist approach that does not fail our students.

Persuasion As a Dynamic, Multidimensional Process: An Investigation of Individual and Intraindividual Differences

Persuasion is an interactive process through which a given message alters individuals’ perspectives by changing the knowledge, beliefs, or interests that underlie those perspectives. Although persuasion is seen as central to effective teaching and learning, there is still much to understand about the characteristics of learners, texts, and tasks that result in such changes. In this study, persuasion was tested as undergraduates read three compelling, popular-press texts on varied topics. Differences across and within readers were examined by means of multivariate and path analytic techniques. Texts written to persuade did, in fact, change readers’ knowledge, beliefs, and interest, and preexisting differences in knowledge, beliefs, and interest directly and indirectly influenced the degree of change. Furthermore, different texts elicited varied levels of knowledge, beliefs, and interest in individual readers.