In this theoretical contribution, our purpose is to examine the nature of reading competence as it unfolds at the present and to project that nature into the future. More specifically, we ask what it will mean to be a competent reader for the 21st century and what combination of knowledge, beliefs, abilities, and processes that competence will…

In this response, we acknowledge the central concerns of the commentators to our article on learning's topography. We respond to those concerns on the basis of the multiplicity of views about learning that reside within the learning terrain we outlined in Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds (2009/this issue).

The overarching purpose of this treatise was to develop a means by which to describe and evaluate existing perspectives on learning and to guide future explorations in this domain. Specifically, using the metaphor of a river system, we advance a framework into which theoretical perspectives and empirical investigations of learning can be…

What follows is the presentation given after receiving the E. L. Thorndike Career Achievement in Educational Psychology from Division 15 of the American Psychological Association. This presentation calls for greater respect for and attention to scientific speculation in educational psychology as a critical component in theory development and model…

This article is a version of the American Psychological Association Division 15 Presidential Address presented at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. In this address, Alexander outlines four trends that influence postindustrial society in general and educational psychology in particular. Those trends are (a)…