North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University's education professors recently published a book that develops a new theory of understanding the teaching/learning process from the elementary school setting and on.

Drs. Elizabeth Jane Davis, Thomas J. Smith, both assistant professors in the School of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, along with the department chair, Dr. Dorothy Leflore, newest release is titled, "Chaos in the Classroom: A New Theory of Teaching and Learning" (published December 2007 by Carolina Academic Press).

This book is about the mysterious and creative thinking that goes on in classrooms from elementary school to graduate school, and how teachers can understand what is happening. The authors viewed the overlap among cognitive learning theory, brain-based learning theory and critical thinking theory through the lens of Chaos Theory to make sense of the teaching/learning process. The authors take the reader through explanations of the theories, the development of the new theory and conclude with an informative chapter on how teachers can create chaos in their own classrooms.

The book has also been chosen as the School of Education's spring book club selection. A book club meeting that will be facilitated by the authors is scheduled to be held, Monday, Feb. 18.