William B. Stanley

Role of Implicit and Explicit Processes in Learning From Examples: A Synergistic Effect

ness of Implicit Knowledge Reber (1969, 1976) claims that implicit knowledge is abstract and readily generalizes to different symbol sets when

The role of explicit and implicit learning processes in concept discovery

Analysis of individual learning curves and concurrent verbal protocols from three experiments concerning discovery of a non-salient verbal concept and a pictorial analogue (Chinese ideograph) of the concept show that a substantial transition phase occurs in which discrimination of exemplars from non-exemplars of the concept is above chance but not yet asymptotic. Under most conditions the ability to verbalize knowledge of the concept occurred almost simultaneously with the onset of the transition phase. However, the addition of noise in the form of false feedback (Experiment 3) created a temporary dissociation between task performance and verbalizable knowledge. Additional results suggest that individual hypothesis revision/rejection strategies affect the length of the transition phase of learning, whereas the size of the domain of hypotheses being sampled affects the number of trial blocks before the transition phase begins. The effect of feedback error on the relation between early rates of hypothesis generation and subsequent transition phase length also suggests that a strategy of quick rejection of falsified hypotheses becomes less adaptive in noisy task environments (e.g. when there are many exceptions to a rule or the concept is probabilistic). Finally, failure to find effects of variables known to affect implicit learning suggests that implicit learning processes do not play a large role in the discovery of this type of concept.

Toward a Reconstruction of Social Education

Abstract This is the second of two articles dealing with the reconstructionist rational for social education. The first article provided an analysis of reconstruction-ism as expressed in the works of George Counts and Theodore Brameld (Stanley, 1981). These two authors developed a rationale for social education which differed significantly from those of their contemporaries who were often labeled as reconstructionists. The Counts-Bra meld rational will hereafter be referred to as radical reconstructionism. The first article explained the basic tenets of radical reconstructionism and outlined the radical reconstructionist rationale for social education. This article has two basic objectives. First, it examines the extent to which the tenets of radical reconstructionism are reflected in five dominant rationales for modern social education. Second, the basic tenets of radical reconstruction are used as criteria to analyze the adequacy of the five modern rationales.

The Radical Reconstructionist Rationale for Social Education

Abstract This is the first of two articles dealing with the reconstructionist rationale for social education. The first article examines the development of the most “radical” reconstructionist proposals as they emerged in the writing of George Counts and Theodore Brameld. This includes an examination of the reconstructionist criticisms of progressive education, and their views on ideology and indoctrination as they relate to social education. The second article examines several dominant rationales for social education and compares and contrasts them with the reconstructionist rationale. The discussion focuses on the relevance of radical reconstructionism and the extent to which it is reflected in modern social education.

Assessing Young Children's Social Concept Development.

A number of questions regarding the nature of social concept development in young children were investigated in this study. In an earlier study, a social concept picture-sorting task was developed to obtain normative data on young childrens social concept development. For this replication study, a larger more heterogeneous sample was used consisting of 64 kindergarten and 65 first grade public school students from lower to upper middle-class socioeconomic levels. Profile analysis was used to compare grades, sex, and racial groups. All three variables had a significant impact on performance. Significant differences in difficulty were found among the nine concepts measured. Three of the most difficult concepts (family-not family, those who protect us, and past-present) are commonly included in early childhood curriculum. These results suggest that the level of concept development needs to be considered in planning social studies curriculum and instruction for young children.

Concept Learning: What Happens when Hypothesis Testing Fails?.

The dominant model of concept learning in experimental psychology, the hypothesis testing model, is described and its applicability to education is questioned. One issue related to the generality of this model was tested by an experiment in which subjects attempted to figure out a simple but difficult to discover concept presented by exemplars over a long series of trials. Based on their performance on this task, subjects were categorized into three levels of concept attainment. It is argued that hypothesis testing theory adequately describes only the behavior of the most successful (Level 1) subjects. Based on the differential levels of performance on old vs. new items and the subjects’ verbal reports of their selection strategies, Level 2 subjects appear to have relied heavily on memorization of previously seen exemplars. However, their above-chance performance on the new (postcriterion) items indicates some level of concept attainment. Since most of these adult subjects were totally unable to v...