Terry M. Wildman

Reflective Teachers: Tensions between Abstractions and Realities.

The theme of teacher as reflective prac titioner has become an important rally ing point in current efforts to reform teaching. Wildman and Niles discuss the rhetoric of reform and balance it against the realities of promoting teacher reflec tion. The authors caution that reform ef forts will fail if crucial conditions for reflection are disregarded.

Integrating learning theory with instructional design

This paper examines the need for integrating assumptions about learning processes with the decisions typically made when designing instructional systems. Our concern is that the decisions made explicit in each of the commonly accepted components of instructional systems depend to varying degrees on implicit assumptions about the process by which people learn. Consequently, when instructional systems are designed without regard to learning theory, these decisions within components are often inconsistent, resulting in varying degrees of incompatibility among the components. The relationships between learning theory and instructional design are discussed, and suggestions are offered for improving the design process.

Work in progress - spiral curriculum approach to reformulate engineering curriculum

A theme-based spiral curriculum approach is being adopted to initiate the department-level reform (DLR) of the freshman engineering and the bioprocess engineering curricula at Virginia Tech. A large number of engineering faculty members are collaborating with experts in educational psychology and academic assessment to accomplish the objectives of this 3-year NSF supported project that began in September 2004. Successful implementation of the spiral approach will be used as a model for incorporating similar reforms in other engineering departments and elsewhere

From the outside in: Lessons in Learning beyond the School Walls.

Major discontinuities exist between the way learning is conceptualized in schools and the way learning happens outside school. The author challenges educators to engage in a serious conversation about methods for mending the mismatch.

Levels of Processing Effects on the Immediate and Delayed Recall of Prose.

Levels of processing is an explanatory framework which postulates that differences in memorial processing quality and/or effort affect the duration of the memory trace. Using recall (immediate, one week, two week) for connected discourse processed under three semantic and three orthographic interference conditions as well as a “normal” control, hypotheses of superior delayed recall for semantic processing conditions and “reversals” from immediate to delayed recall were tested. Results were consistent with a semantic elaboration notion, but the reversals suggested by the other studies (e. g., Pellegrino, Siegel & Dhawan) were not found to be statistically reliable. Alternative hypotheses are considered.

Processing errors in conditional and biconditional problem solving behavior

Abstract Students ( N = 237) in each of grades 8, 10, 12, and 14 were randomly divided into three groups and administered either a 16-item multiple-choice test of conditional syllogisms, or a 16-item test of biconditional syllogisms, or a 32-item test with both conditional and biconditional syllogisms. Results provided within experiment and within-subjects comparison of responses on conditional and biconditional syllogisms. A comparison of response patterns on conditional items with responses on actual biconditional items provided a direct test of the previously hypothesized biconditional misinterpretation of conditional problems. These analyses confirmed the strong tendency of subjects (across grades) to interpret conditional syllogisms biconditionally. Surprisingly, performance on biconditional problems does not improve systematically with age; in fact, college sophomores perform only slightly better than eighth graders. With regard to conditional syllogisms, results confirmed previously described performance variations across forms of both major and second premises and also replicated an unusual reversed developmental trend on the problem which involves denying the consequent.

Improving learning and engagement for students in large classes

Due to increasing student enrollments and limited resources, small classes are evermore being replaced with large lectures. It is therefore essential to quality educational programs to address the challenges of student learning and engagement in large classes. This paper explains connections between basic learning research and practical strategies for engaging students in large engineering classrooms. First, we ground proposed instructional strategies with theory and empirical evidence on such key matters as how students represent ideas in memory, how these representations are elaborated and perfected over time, and how stored information can be retrieved for use. This helps us to understand how students learn to monitor and control their own learning and how large class environments can be approached as sites for significant learning. We discuss how electronic student response devices (clickers) have been useful for generating in-class interaction and active learning in large classes for individual and team activities. How to administer beneficial team-based projects for large classes is also presented, including: real-world problems that require teams to investigate and understand contemporary issues such as sustainability, working with industry, and third- world countries. Finally, personal style and characteristics of faculty who are successful with large classes is discussed.

Changes in Institutional Participation at AERA Annual Meetings

program, and each year the program serves as one important way of defining participation in the profession. Patterns of participation, however, are understandably lost within the immense scope and complexity of recent meeting programs. This report provides an analysis showing trends in institutional participation for recent AERA meetings in San Francisco (1986) and Washington, DC (1987). Based on an earlier report of the 1974 Chicago meeting (see Fletcher, Beagles, Dodd, & Wildman, 1974) the present analysis includes information about the contribution of different