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Presents the results of a qualitative study designed to discover people's knowledge, opinions, and feelings about climate change. Recommends some educational strategies based on the results of the study. (DDR)

Points out that climate change is an ideal pedagogical tool for encouraging a number of desirable outcomes in environmental education. Climate change can be used to teach about complex systems. (Contains 16 references.) (DDR)

Presents interviews with scientists and policy analysts about reasons for scientific disagreement on climate change and whether action is needed immediately. (Contains 19 references.) (DDR)

Responds to an earlier article that illustrated how metaphorically applying chaos and complexity theory to language teaching, second language acquisition, and the observed lesson can alter perspectives about how these things are viewed. Suggests that chaos and complexity theory could also help see the following areas in a new light: syllabus design, focus on forms, and the zone of proximal development. (Author/VWL)

Examines change capacity within one restructuring Ontario school district, employing the notions of chaos theory and a living organization. Analyzed 5 years of longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data to understand effects of organizational change on the whole school. School leadership teams worked differently, depending on context. (Contains 21 references.) (MLH)

Three articles in this special issue explore the people/school organization interrelationship in England, Canada, and the Netherlands. Two articles discuss learning organizations' change capacity. A third article examines tensions occurring when people/organization interactions clash with desired outcomes. Chaos theory and improvement programs are also discussed. (Contains 16 references.) (MLH)

Examines the role of citations both as reward and as rhetoric. Examines the reward system by tracing over time the citation patterns of 13 research articles by two groups of scientists in chaos theory. Reveals that scientists consistently used five rhetorical practices. Describes these five practices. (SG)

Discussion of information retrieval on the Web focuses on a study that is the result of ten replications of the 1996 Ding and Marchionini Web search tool research. Explores effects that replication can have on transforming unreliable results from one iteration into replicable and therefore reliable results following multiple iterations. (Author/LRW)

European educational systems are under immense pressure to change, develop, improve, and satisfy many conflicting demands. Educational development and improvement in these countries is unlikely to progress in a neat, orderly, and linear fashion. Applying nonlinear (chaos) theory to development theory may aid understanding of educational development/improvement processes. (Contains 43 references.) (MLH)

Organizations are complex, socially created systems embodying people's individual and shared expectations. This view challenges administrators to become visionary leaders. Using chaos theory, leaders can open people's minds to unconventional organizational patterns. Change is implemented by studying a system's self-renewing and self-transcending dynamics. (Contains 22 references.) (MLH)

The author asserts that through chaos theory, she began to view the failures and successes of one particular semester in a different light. Describes chaos theory in layman's terms and provides recommendations for teaching in this new paradigm. Asserts that understanding chaos theory will allow instructors to celebrate diversity, disorder, and change. (VWC)

Uses chaos theory as a metaphor for advising undecided college students. Applies chaos theory concepts of dependence on initial conditions, strange attractors, emergent behavior in complex systems, and fractals to the advising relationship. Suggests the paradigm reinforces the basics of advising, such as the importance of accepting the student's indecision and establishing trust. (DB)

The prevailing world view is shifting from positivism to postmodernism. A postmodern perspective on evidence-based nursing suggests that evidence for nursing decisions should be derived from research, patient and nurse values, reflection, intuition, and tacit knowledge. (SK)

Explores both the promise and the danger of applying new science concepts (i.e. chaos theory, complexity theory) to organizational behavior and communication. Examines a case in which such concepts are being used in a hospital to revamp nursing structures and practices. Describes the case, then discusses it in terms of lessons it can provide. (PA)

Presents a case study of the ideology, strategies and process of the "Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh" project in its attempt at school reform in an urban school district. Reflects on the project's activities, and uses its experience to develop a conceptual framework based on chaos theory, as developed in mathematics and science, for discussing educational reform efforts. (Author/AEF)

Describes a plan to introduce and achieve a national awareness of agility (and easy entry into the world market) for Albania through the relatively stable higher-education order. Agility's four strategic principles are enriching the customer, cooperating to enhance competitiveness, organizing to master change and uncertainty, and leveraging the impact of people and information. Leadership awareness and competence are essential. (MLH)

Allies the application of chaos theory to career development with phenomenological perspectives exploring people's beliefs. Suggests that this approach reveals that interactive belief systems underlie seemingly random career behavior. (SK)

Presents curriculum as a complex social process. Explores chaos theory as a metaphor for understanding curriculum and a framework for viewing the curriculum-development process. Provides examples of collaborative leadership (described by David Chrislip and Carl Larson) and shows how they might answer Joseph Schwab's call for a deliberative curriculum. (39 references) (MLH)

"Nonlinear dynamics," chaos and complexity theories, and their accompanying research methods provide new ways to understand systems theory and study complex human systems. This article presents an overview of these approaches, their sophisticated mathematical methods, and their relevance to social work practice and research. The advantages are summarized. (EMK)

Critically analyzes the core ideas of chaos theory to determine whether they are worth teaching and explores the accessibility of these ideas for students. The studies are embedded in a Model of Educational Reconstruction which seeks to bring science content structure concerns and educational concerns into balance and interaction with one another. Contains 34 references. (PVD)

Ponders possible explanations for the connections among chaos, complexity, and a learning community. Challenges the Newtonian world model, suggests that the world operates in a complex, nonlinear, unpredictable pattern, and calls for a new science to understand this complexity. A true learning community values individual autonomy, risk taking, ownership, and belonging. The autonomous changes occurring within individuals is a learning community's essence. (20 references) (MLH)

M.R. Butz's position regarding chaos theory and Christianity is reviewed. The compatibility of biblical theology and the sciences is discussed. Parallels between chaos theory and the philosophical perspective of Soren Kierkegaard are explored. A biblical model is offered for counselors in assisting Christian clients in embracing chaos. (Author/EMK)

Chaos theory is critically examined from the perspective of the philosophy of science. Chaos theory is summarized and related to the principle distinctions of scientific methodology. The relationship of worldviews, values and scientific theory is discussed. Conceptual and terminological issues are clarified; usefulness in counseling is discussed. (EMK)

Discusses the similarities between the science of chaos/complexity and second language acquisition (SLA). Notes that chaos/complexity scientists focus on how disorder yields to order and on how complexity arises in nature. Points out that the study of dynamic, complex nonlinear systems is meaningful in SLA as well. (78 references) (Author/CK)

Research and theory tend to lag behind practice in educational administration. Theory and research do not reflect schools' problems; the everyday activities of students, staff, and parents; nor the social milieu. Faulty research methodology is to blame, particularly reliance on single theories. By embracing new conceptual frameworks, such as complexity and chaos theory, theoretical pluralism might remedy this situation. (44 references) (MLH)

Describes three recent scientific theories (chaos theory, complexity theory, and fuzzy logic) and shows how they serve as metaphors for understanding English teaching. (SR)

While many colleges and universities have undertaken organizational change, many also have failed to produce such change. One reason may be that the failed planning processes have been overly rational, quantitative, and linear, neglecting intuition, artfulness, and sudden social and human shifts. Chaos theory, which describes systems and turbulence in the natural world, includes principles that may help strategic planners. (MSE)

The case is made that advances in chaos and complexity theories and self-organizing systems have important implications for the field of learning disabilities. Problems with behaviorism are discussed and the properties of self-organizing systems are explained. The concepts of continuous, nonlinear development and motivation and volition are presented. (CR)

Discussion of philosophy of knowledge considers two forms of epistemology, order and chaos, and argues for honoring both approaches while looking at knowledge in terms of complexity. Suggests that this new conception of knowledge poses a specific challenge to the teacher/educator to become an "instructed third," or mover between disciplines and knowledges. (Author/MSE)

An introduction to the concepts and terminology of chaos science and a discussion of its implications for the behavioral and social sciences are provided. The paper points out that chaos science assumptions pertaining to nonlinearity, controlled randomness, and dynamic system modeling offer challenging new directions to assessment and intervention practices in the field of developmental disabilities. (Author/JDD)

Applies chaos theory to complex social organization, beginning with a mathematical definition of chaos. Shows how a nonlinear equation might be used to describe organization. The conclusion section identifies three approaches to analyzing chaos in social organization: metaphorical analysis, mathematical modeling, and data collection. (36 references) (MLH)

Dynamical systems theory can increase our understanding of the constantly evolving learning process. Current research using experimental and interpretive paradigms focuses on describing the attractors and constraints stabilizing the educational process. Dynamical systems theory focuses attention on critical junctures in the learning process as beliefs and knowledge spontaneously reform to create order out of chaos. (58 references) (MLH)

One reason medical students favor specialization over generalist medicine (primary care) is a perception of generalist medicine as nonrigorous. Chaos science, a new field, reveals an intellectual basis for generalist medicine. The history, strengths, and limits of reductionist thinking in medicine and aspects of chaos theory illuminate this notion. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the emergence of chaos as a major scientific subject and its place in historical, scientific, and technological context. Three sections provide (1) an overview of the scientific paradigm; (2) a review of the ideology of classical mechanics; and (3) examples of classical systems behaving in peculiar, nonintuitive manners. (MDH)

A unit of study for gifted fourth and fifth graders is described on the subject of mathematical periodicity and chaos and the underlying physical processes which produce these phenomena. Hands-on activities, data analysis tools and computer aids are used for instruction in simple periodic motion (pendulum), complex superposition of motions (vibrations), and chaotic sequences (stock prices). (Authors/PR)

Presents music education as a setting for teaching nonlinear dynamics and chaotic behavior connected with fixed-point and limit-cycle attractors. The aim is not music composition but a first approach to an interdisciplinary tool suitable for a single-session class, at either the secondary or undergraduate level, for the introduction of these important physical concepts. (seven references) (Author/JJK)

Studies the simple dynamical system of the pendulum and the chaotic behavior that occurs when the pendulum is both damped and driven. Provides an algorithm and BASIC program for the numerical solution to the differential equations encountered in the discussion. (MDH)

Discusses the early recognition of chaos as seen in Poincar's work solving dynamical problems. Proposes five examples from which an inventory of the manifestation of chaos can be inferred. Discusses some instructional consequences of the development of ideas of chaos. (MDH)

Uses chaos systems concepts to analyze a case study of rapid growth and conflict in a southwestern school district. Difficulties arising from the need for very precise initial measurements, data forms adaptable to pattern modeling, and precise meanings for chaotic systems concepts limit chaotic theory's application to educational administration research. (20 references) (MLH)

Explains the chaos theory and its effect on education, relating it to quantum physics. The article suggests implications for education (predictions about student achievement are limited, the brain learns in nonlinear ways, and the knowledge base in teacher education needs modification to account for recent discoveries in science and mathematics). (SM)

An activity that introduces the concept of chaos to students is presented. Smoke rising from burning incense is used to represent changes in atmospheric flow. The lab, involving fluid dynamics, avoids mathematical models to highlight deterministic chaos within nature itself. Reproducible pages are provided. (KR)

Discussed are several different transformations based on the generation of fractals including self-similar designs, the chaos game, the koch curve, and the Sierpinski Triangle. Three computer programs which illustrate these concepts are provided. (CW)

Deterministic chaos which involves orderly motion is discussed. Presented is the history of chaos and two tests for chaos. Practical applications and predictions of the long-term significance of chaos research are discussed. (KR)