Introduction
Section 1:
Understanding Concepts, Deductions, and Judgments
-- with examples from math, science, literature, teaching, teacher education,
and tennis, since reasoning and understanding apply to everything
in at least some form or other. Even those things in life which have little
to do with reasoning and understanding can be thought about in reasonable
ways, and may even be improved by such thinking. |
Reasoning: What
It Is
To Be Rational
Having Understanding
Versus Knowing Correct Explanations
Understanding,
Shallow Thinking, and Schools
The
Socratic Method:
Teaching by Questions
Online Versus Onground Teaching (Word document) (HTML Webpage)
Teaching
Effectively:
Helping Students Absorb and
Assimilate
Material
Understanding
and
Teaching Place-Value
Fostering
Insights and Understanding Through Teaching
Desirable
School Curriculum
Evaluating Students,
Teachers, and Student Teachers
Evaluating
Teachers by Video Tape Lessons and Portfolios
About Simplifying
Teaching Theories
Learning Styles?
Shedding Light on
Time: Learning and Teaching Difficult Concepts
The
Concept
of Teaching "To" the Test
More About Evaluations: Follow-Up to "The Concept of Teaching 'To' the Test"
Equal "Opportunity"
To Learn
Unfairness
of the College Board SATs
The Immorality
of Giving Tests for Grades in Teaching
Using
Questions to Teach Better
Pet Peeve: Students Who Say "I Don't Know What You Are Looking For"
Bogus "Critical
Thinking" Teaching Strategies
A
Common,
but Terrible, Mistake in Teaching Math and Science
"Explaining"
Math Poorly
Teaching
Science and Literature
Teaching
Logic and Abstract Thinking to Third Graders?
"Thinking"
Is Most Difficult for Supposedly Best Students
Insight,
Inspiration, Logic, and Learning
Understanding
"Understanding":
What It Means to "Understand" Something
The Theban Plays of Sophocles
Writing
College Papers (and Exam Answers)
Preparing
College Reading Assignments
A Loose
Introduction to Reading Plato
Uses and
Importance of Hyperlinks
Writing Rhyming
Poetry Without Talent
The Power and
Purpose of Poetry in Prose
Teaching
Literary Style
Mislabeling
"Highly Qualified" Teachers
Significant Differences
Between Writing and Talking; Why Talking Seems Easier
Selected Passages from
Jane Austen
Strategy
in
Tennis (Particularly Doubles)
Understanding
Algebra
Algebra I Supplemental
Preface
Math
"Rate"
Problems
Why Graphs of
Equations in the Form
Y = aX + b Turn
Out To Be Linear (i.e., Straight Lines)
More About
Fractions Than Anyone Needs to Know
Teaching "Quantity"
Fractions
Teaching
Math to Young Children
Reading As
Children Do
Testing
Reading
Explanations
and Pseudo-Explanations in Science
Learning in
a Classroom
The Concept
of the Mole in Chemistry -- Why It Works, and Why It Is Important
Stoichiometry
Stuff in Chemistry
Scientific Confirmation
A Philosophy
of Science Logic Problem
Math, Science,
Knowledge, and Nature
Methodology
vs Content in Teaching
Computers
Versus Books and Paper in Schools?
Further Examples and an Exception to the Above "Computers Versus Books..."
Section 2:
Reasoning and Morality
Students have natural concerns about good and evil, right and wrong, and
fairness and justice. There are legal and reasonable ways to deal with
these concerns in order to foster conceptual, reasoning, analytical, and
evaluative skills, and in order to make the classroom a more humane place,
because many student ethical concerns are about school content, rules,
and policies and about how they are treated and evaluated in school by
teachers and administrators. |
Moral
and
Spiritual Values & (Public) Schools
Simplistic
Moral Reasoning
Religion, Morality, Secular Ideals, and Ethics Education
Logic and Ethics: The Harm of Logical Disability
The Problem
With Teaching Through Bribery and Coercion
The Concept
of "Tolerance"
Misguiding Values
The
Point
of Studying Ethics
Doing Ethics:
Rational and Creative Thinking
The
Uses of
Philosophy In Today's World
Student Violence
Section 3:
Issues About the Role of Schools In Society
|
Suspension
and Expulsion from Schools
Formal
Systems Need Discretionary Mechanisms
Schools Are
Not Places of Education
Typical School
Curriculum and Instruction Is Too Narrow and Wasteful
Adopting a
Kidnapper's Creed for Education: No Child Left Behind
Incidental
Institutional Bias
The Alabama
High School Curriculum and Exit Exam -- comments about the curriculum
apply to schools in other states as well.
Between
Parent and Institution
To Parents
Trying to Improve Schools
Summer Renaissance
Program Proposal
Epilogue
Fighting for the
Higher Self
|