Numerous research studies over the past five years indicate that a high percentage of college students have severe deficiencies in their ability to use mathematics as a language for representing simple quantitative relationships. In the United States these problems are nearly as common among students with strong computational skills in algebra and…

This research addresses the actual goals and intentions from which students plan and organize their work in a course of study. Representations can either facilitate or hinder learning and problem solutions. Several salient aspects of adult students' representational systems and how they influenced university study were examined in two studies. The…

In response to changing social norms and "psychosocial epidemics" disrupting children's lives, schools must become more important agents of character development, providing education in civic virtue and personality adjustment. Schools'"damage control" function cannot succeed without involving families and reevaluating existing…

Reviewed are 15 studies on cognitive style and problem solving in science education. The effects of problem context, problem type, and three kinds of cognitive style on subjects' abilities to encounter and solve problems are investigated. Three protocols of the subjects' encountering activities are provided. (YP)

Presented is a calculation for the probability of a athletic event. Assumptions, computations, and questions to be considered in the solution of this problem are discussed. (CW)

French tenth grade physics classes were observed as they studied electric circuits over a one-year period. An analysis is presented of tests taken during the year. The main point separating "average" students from "good" ones is their performances in "implicitly difficult exercises," that is, in what appears…

Assessment of 121 nondisabled elementary boys and 107 boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ages 7 through 14 years, found significantly lower problem-solving scores in specific math concepts and slower computational performance for the boys with ADHD when reading and problem structure were held constant. Instructional…

Chinese families (n=101) from two settings (urban and rural) responded to the Family Needs Survey describing life with a child with disabilities. Findings indicated that information was the most pressing need followed by financial help and help locating a doctor. Type of impairment and setting were related to need expression. (Author/DB)

This study, with 46 offending fathers/stepfathers, 47 mothers, 48 sexually abused adolescent daughters, and a control group, found increased behavioral and self-esteem problems in the abused daughters and differences in the familial environments of the 2 groups. Mothers in the incest group reported that daughters had more conduct problems than…

Sensitive topics raise issues of ethics, politics, and legal aspects of research. There is concern for participants' rights and groups who may be affected by research. Notes that some argue research funding tends to serve the interests of the powerful by excluding support for research on issues detrimental to their interests. (NL)

The emerging field of advanced distance education delivers academic courses across time and distance, allowing educators and students to participate in a convenient learning method. "Methods and Applications for Advancing Distance Education Technologies: International Issues and Solutions" demonstrates communication technologies, intelligent…

This article addresses ethical dilemmas experienced by street-level research and evaluation workers recruiting and gathering data in community-based research projects. The authors focus on a subgroup of street-level research workers, whom they call research extenders (REs), employed because they share important characteristics with the target…

This investigation used data from the 28-year-old New York Longitudinal Study to examine the relationship between various negative emotional and behavioral characteristics (e.g., aggression, anxiety, undercompliance, depressive mood) and adjustment. A total of 133 white, middle-class children were rated on these negative characteristics from…

Research supports the notion that substitute teachers generally are ineffective. This study examines whether trained substitutes can be as effective as assigned teachers in teaching students with behavior disorders. Findings showed that substitutes with intensive inservice training in behavior management were equally effective for one-day…

Determined whether 11 third-grade children, differing in cognitive processing capacity, solve addition and subtraction word problems differently. Results, among others, show that children who differ in cognitive processing capacity also differ in strategies they use to solve the same verbal problems and differ in their success in finding correct…