This chapter builds on the original findings of the Classroom Memory Study and outlines the ways in which children’s academic skills are also influenced by the types of language that (1) parents use during the course of conversations about the past, and (2) teachers use during classroom instruction. We present findings from a number of studies to illustrate that kindergarten students’ accuracy and strategy use in the context of mathematics is influenced by exposure to metacognitive language at home and at school. In addition, we explore the impact of kindergarten teachers’ metacognitive language on children’s mathematics accuracy and strategy use across the first two years of formal school for those children who enter school with relatively low mathematical knowledge. Finally, we emphasize that a commitment to examining instructional approaches and methods of assessment that focus on students’ metacognitive understanding will be critical to the evolution of the Classroom Memory Study and to studying the socialization of children’s cognition more broadly.

Overviews of Expertise and of History

Expertise

Expertise, studied in a variety of domains, has referred to highly skilled performance in an activity such as violin playing or playing chess. Expertise has referred also to a person's knowledge and/or ability to perform representational tasks of a particular domain. The term also may be based on a reputation established by publications and/or lectures, or on a “certification” such as a PhD. In the present context, an expert in history is assumed to have a general and a specialized knowledge of history as well as facility in the skills of historical research and writing.

Although the study of expertise began in the late nineteenth century, the primary impetus occurred in the late twentieth century with the work on chess by de Groot (1965) and Chase and Simon (1973a, 1973b). This research, comparing expert, middle-range, and novice performance, demonstrated the importance of recognizing functionally related “chunks” of chess pieces. Similarly, physics experts were superior to novices in their conceptual understanding of physics problems, which in turn led to their better problem solving (Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981; Larkin, McDermott, Simon, & Simon, 1980).

The nature of expertise in any domain involves an interaction of a person's knowledge (both domain-specific and general) and skills, and the characteristics of the domain that constrain performance. Some domains, because of their conceptual evolution, permit the use of mathematics, formal logic, or well-controlled experimentation.

Abstract

This chapter discusses how multimedia learning environments have been used in history instruction and when learning with multimedia is effective. For the purposes of this chapter, multimedia learning is defined as acquiring knowledge in a domain through interacting with an educational environment that presents information using multiple sources. Media here are defined as channels by which information is accessed that differ based on the document, source (e.g., newspaper, biography, political speech, textbook), or mode of communication (e.g., texts, sounds, pictures, video, animation, maps, charts, graphs). Multimedia learning environments are used in history instruction for two main purposes: (1) multiple-source environments attempt to make history learning more like the activities of real historians, and (2) graphics or archives are often used to make the context of the time under question more engaging, vivid, or personally relevant for the learner.

Introduction

Multimedia learning usually refers to computer-based learning tools such as CD-ROMs or the Internet in which text, pictures, animation, sounds, movies, and other media can be combined in the presentation of information. However, this is a somewhat narrower interpretation of multimedia than is appropriate in the case of learning about history. The usual history textbook combines texts of historical narratives with maps, charts, timelines, pictures, diagrams, and paintings to convey the historical facts or events. Furthermore, history teachers often supplement reading assignments and lectures with films or documentaries based on historical events. Therefore, even traditional textbook or classroom instruction in history can be considered multimedia.

This chapter presents the results of an analysis of the contents of the U.S. Senate debate on the Gulf crisis. The analysis consists of using the argumentation of the debate to infer the representations of the Gulf crisis that were espoused by members of each side of the debate. Moreover, the analysis makes special use of the model of images described by R. Cottam (1977), R. Herrmann (1984, 1988), and M. Cottam (1994). Specifically, the analysis assumes that the image of Iraq held by the senators played a major role in establishing their respective representations of the crisis. Furthermore, we argue that the images provide a basis for interpreting the rhetorical features of the arguments of the senators.

There are a number of reasons for analyzing the contents of the Senate debate. First, at a relatively empirical level, it is simply of interest to extract the argumentation that was employed by each side, and it is of further interest to ascertain what can be inferred from such argumentation with respect to how the Gulf crisis was mentally represented by the senators of each side. Second, determining the images that were implied by the debate contents not only provides a basis for studying representations of the Gulf crisis; it also provides a basis for interpreting the arguments stated in the debate that were at least on the surface aimed at persuasion. Finally, analysis provides the opportunity to interpret U.S. policy with respect to Iraq in particular and the Middle East in general.

The chapter contains five sections. In the first, background information is presented that is relevant to the remainder of the chapter. In the second, the method we used to analyze the debate text is briefly described. The third section presents the analysis of the argumentation of the debate and what may be inferred regarding the problem representations and images of the senators. The final two sections present some tentative conclusions and speculations and discusses image representations.

Background Information

Brief Description of the Gulf Crisis

The Gulf crisis began in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. In response, the United States sent troops to defend Saudi Arabia, and the Bush administration, in conjunction with the United Nations Security Council, organized an international embargo against Iraq.