This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kagan, D. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Teaching as Clinical Problem Solving: A Critical Examination of the Analogy and Its Implications

California State University, San Bernardino

In 1974, when research on teachers’ cognitions became a major focus of inquiry, teaching, like the practice of medicine, was described as a form of clinical problem solving. The concept of clinical problem solving was invoked primarily in terms of its traditional definition: the diagnosis and treatment of dysfunction. Today, after 14 years of studying teachers’ cognitions, educational researchers are beginning to provide models of classroom teaching that reflect a very different, hierarchical kind of clinical problem solving. Empirical models of each kind of clinical problem solving (diagnosis/treatment vs. hierarchical) are described and compared, as a means of evaluating the distance researchers of teachers’ cognitions have traveled. The author suggests that the transition from the initial to the newer model represents a shift in perspective that has effectively moved teaching farther from science and closer to art. The implications of this shift are discussed in terms of how pre- and inservice teachers are evaluated and trained.

Review of Educational Research, Vol. 58, No. 4, 482-505 (1988)
DOI: 10.3102/00346543058004482


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. P. Blanton Preservice Education: Essential Knowledge for the Effective Special Education Teacher Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, April 1, 1992; 15(2): 87 - 96. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Cumming Expertise in evaluating second language compositions Language Testing, June 1, 1990; 7(1): 31 - 51. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. M. Kagan Ways of Evaluating Teacher Cognition: Inferences Concerning the Goldilocks Principle Review of Educational Research, January 1, 1990; 60(3): 419 - 469. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. M Kagan The Heuristic Value of Regarding Classroom Instruction as an Aesthetic Medium Educational Researcher, August 1, 1989; 18(6): 11 - 18. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. M. Clark Reconciliation of Data on Aptitude Test Scores and University Grades of Teachers Journal of Teacher Education, July 1, 1989; 40(4): 49 - 52. [Abstract]