Using Language to Think: Developing Concepts in Social Studies, Science and Mathematics

Abstract

Whether teachers are aware of it or not, underlying the structure and content of all methods and materials is a theoretical orientation toward learning that directs the selection and design of materials used, expectations for student performance, and the nature of teachers responses to that performance. To modify one's theoretical perspective requires both awareness of that theoretical orientation and an exposure to new insights. The relationship between language and thought is one area in which current investigations may suggest a needed change in teachers' theoretical perspective on learning. This work has reminded us of earlier work done in the 1930s which described knowing as a transactional process between the individual and the environment with language at the center of the process. From this perspective, knowing is viewed as a personal process; the language one uses to come to know about the world plays an integral part in the development of semantic potential. Applications of transactional teaching and learning activities are made to concepts in social studies, science and mathematics.