This article proposes an interconnected framework, "Ways of thinking in STEM-based Problem Solving," which addresses cognitive processes that facilitate learning, problem solving, and interdisciplinary concept development. The framework comprises critical thinking, incorporating critical mathematical modelling and philosophical inquiry,…

Statistical learning refers to the ability to identify structure in the input based on its statistical properties. For many linguistic structures, the relevant statistical features are distributional: They are related to the frequency and variability of exemplars in the input. These distributional regularities have been suggested to play a role in…

Information changes as it is passed from person to person, with this process of cultural transmission allowing the minds of individuals to shape the information that they transmit. We present mathematical models of cultural transmission which predict that the amount of information passed from person to person should affect the rate at which that…

Cross-situational learning has recently gained attention as a plausible candidate for the mechanism that underlies the learning of word-meaning mappings. In a recent study, Blythe and colleagues have studied how many trials are theoretically required to learn a human-sized lexicon using cross-situational learning. They show that the level of…

Schwartz and Martin ("Cogn Instr" 22:129-184, 2004) as well as Kapur ("Instr Sci", this issue, 2012) have found that students can be better prepared to learn about mathematical formulas when they try to invent them in small groups before receiving the canonical formula from a lesson. The purpose of the present research was to investigate how the…

This paper presents an intervention study whose aim was to promote teacher beliefs about mathematics and learning mathematics and student competences in mathematical modeling. In the intervention, teachers received written curriculum materials about mathematical modeling. The concept underlying the materials was based on constructivist ideas and…

It is suggested that both similarity and analogy involve a process of structural alignment and mapping. The structure mapping process is described as it has been worked out for analogy, and this view is then extended to similarity and used to generate new predictions. (SLD)

The method of scoring is used to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters in White and Clark's (EJ 075 122) learning hierarchy validation model. From the proportion of the population possessing only the superordinate skill in a pair of hierarchical skills, and its variance, the hypothesis of inclusion is tested. (Author/CTM)

A FORTRAN 77 program is described that computes both the different response success-error patterns and their summary statistics for learning and forgetting in fixed trial experiments using a two-stage Markov model. (Author/GDC)

A complete package for Markov model-based fixed trial learning experiments contains four FORTRAN 77 programs. Two of the programs deliver likelihood and parameter estimates of one- and two-stage learning models, and two may be used for hypothesis testing of parameter differences between and within experimental conditions. (Author/GDC)

A sample of 328 freshman economics students is disaggregated by the students' gender, previous knowledge of economics, attitudes toward economics, and innate abilities. Results show that students learn more economics if they take microeconomics before macroeconomics. Appended are 14 references. (MLF)

A neuromathematical model of information processing applied to science learning is expanded to include two coefficients representing the motivational state of the learner. The inclusion of these coefficients (which are described) permits modeling of the effects of variations in motivation on the rate and amount of information in learning tasks.…

A multidimensional model is presented for measuring learning and change based on item response theory. The model specifies a Wiener simplex pattern for involvement of initial ability and one or more modifiabilities in response potential for successive measurement occasions. Properties of the model are explored for several classical issues. (SLD)

Pavlov denotes a family of stochastic learning strategies that achieves the mutually cooperative outcome in the iterated prisoner's dilemma against a wide variety of strategies. Although faster learners will eventually dominate a given homogeneous Pavlov population, the process must proceed through a gradual increase in the rate of learning. (JBJ)

Notes advantages of using dynamic models to understand cognitive functioning: (1) they are specifically intended to represent changes that systems undergo as they evolve; (2) they can capture change in a continuous fashion; (3) they can account for development of behavior that appears orderly at times and disorderly at others, and (4) chaotic…