Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge

Originally published in 1977, this book reports the proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center. The one common thread running through all of the formal papers and dialogue was that the knowledge a person already possesses is the principal determiner of what that individual can learn from an educational experience. These questions were addressed: How is knowledge organized? How does knowledge develop? How is knowledge retrieved and used? What instructional techniques promise to facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge? The kinds of answers provided are characterized by their as well as by their specificity. Accordingly, the volume should be of interest to both the generalist and the specialist.

Preface. 1. Types of Knowledge and Purposes of Education H.S. Broudy 2. Schooling and the Facilitation of Knowing John D. Brandsford, Kathleen E. Nitsch and Jeffrey J. Franks 3. The Languages of Instruction: On the Literate Bias of Schooling David R. Olson 4. The Representation of Knowledge in Memory David Rumelhart and Andrew Ortony 5. Remembering the Information from Text: The "State of Schema" Approach Rand J. Spiro 6. The Structure of Prose: Effects on Learning and Memory and Implications for Educational Practice Bonnie J.F. Meyer 7. Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Concepts Katherine Nelson 8. Attitudes, Beliefs and Information Acquisition Robert S. Wyer, Jr. 9. We Know Who Knows, But Why? Earl Hunt 10. Processes in Acquiring Knowledge Allan Collins 11. The Acquisition of Knowledge in the Classroom David C. Berliner and Barak Rosenshine 12. Schooling and the Relevance of Research: General Discussion of the Conference Robert M. Gagne. The Notion of Schemata and the Educational Enterprise: General Discussion of the Conference Richard C. Anderson. Author Index. Subject Index.