Chapter 11: A Half-Century Effort to Create a Theory of Education to Guide the Improvement of Teaching and Learning ¹: What a Researcher Can Say to Science Teachers

I recall when I was in second grade at Van Cleve School that I brought to class various jars that my mother used for canning to illustrate relationships between pints, quarts, and gallons. Our principal, Miss Lohman, was so impressed with my presentation that she had me repeat it in all the other classrooms. I was happy to have the chance to visit other classes, but I did not think what I had to say was that important. Of course, I did not know that Piaget (1926) and others had shown that only about 10% of high school seniors can consistently conserve volume of cylinders, let alone provide specific relationships between them. I also recall that in my 4th grade class with Miss Bartz some of the children had difficulty recognizing that 3 X 4 was the same as 4 X 3 and similar number relations. I remember thinking, “what is wrong with these kids that they have trouble with such simple ideas. Isn’t there a way to teach them so they could all understand simple ideas and relationships?” Most of my 12 years in public schools were filled with boredom, and my report cards showed my lack of interest and effort to learn what we were being taught. The two exceptions were Sam Drage’s physics course and Miss Fisher’s English literature course, both of which stressed understanding the subject matter. Never during those 12 years did I think that I might become an educator and commit myself to seeking ways to make education more effective!