Educational Innovation Project Research Articles

Learning Fractals by “Doing Science”: Applying Cognitive Apprenticeship Strategies to Curriculum Design and Instruction

Science research professionals originated an education innovation project that adapts the mentoring model of graduate study in science to the high school, closely coupling experiment and computer visualization models devised originally for science research in natural or random fractals. Educational researchers who joined the project helped to interpret the effort in terms of “cognitive apprenticeship,” a teaching paradigm already known in the cognitive research literature. This article traces the evolution of the materials informed by this paradigm and the results of two sequential trials of a fractal dimension unit in a suburban high school. In the 2nd‐year trial, students began to act as independent investigators and the teacher gradually and spontaneously adopted the role of mentor.

By Way Of Introduction

“New societal goals for education include … [the] opportunity for all” (NCTM 1989, 3). This goal is identified not as a goal of mathematics educators or of NCTM but of society as a whole. That the goal is real is obvious from even a cursory examination of daily newspaper and magazine articles. Fortune magazine recently devoted a special issue to exploring ways that business and industry are working with parents and teachers and pouring millions into innovative educational project (Fortune 1990). A major concern is the growing number of dropouts. An estimated 3000 students per day are leaving school (Littell 1990). Francis (Skip) Fennell's “one Point of View” (p. 6) addresses this and other social issues of which we must be aware in our effort to reach all student. Although the goal is a goal of society as a whole, it will ultimately be realized only through the efforts of individual teachers in their individual classrooms.

The relevance of educational content to national needs in Africa

In their efforts to achieve relevance in educational content, many African countries have adopted a variety of broad strategies. These include the formulation of comprehensive educational policies, the preparation of periodic development plans, the mounting of special innovative educational projects, the creation of Curriculum Development Centres, and the setting up of regional curriculum development organizations such as the African Curriculum Organization. A number of specific strategies have been directed, with varying degrees of emphasis by the countries concerned, at four elements which curricula, textbooks, and methods must take account of if relevance of educational content is to be achieved: the African environment, the African child's development, the African cultural heritage, and the demands of technological progress and economic development. Evaluation of how successful these strategies have been still needs to be carried out.

Utilization of Evaluations of Small-scale Innovative Educational Projects

Utilization of Evaluations of Small-scale Innovative Educational Projects

Utilization of Evaluations of Small-Scale Innovative Educational Projects

Utilization of Evaluations of Small-Scale Innovative Educational Projects

American Public School Administration: A Short Analysis

American Public School Administration: A Short Analysis

Community polarization over educational programs can be avoided

The series of events involved in implementing an innovative educational project in a fairly conservative community are outlined with particular reference to parental dissemination procedures, the role of the media, and staff response strategies. Shortly after the project's inception, two challenges against the use of an affective curriculum were mounted by a couple of opposition parents. The attempts were considered unsuccessful and several operating assumptions for new programs were described.