Successful learning sometimes requires that the learner abandons or rejects one or more prior concepts, beliefs, or intuitive theories. Such "nonmonotonic changes" are widely believed to have a low probability of occurring spontaneously and to be difficult to promote with instruction. A theory of nonmonotonic cognitive change should explain both…

In contrast to subjects such as mathematics and the sciences, it has been argued that technology education lacks a clear definition and a clearly defined knowledge base. This discursive article seeks to inform the debate by highlighting the matter of subject definition and in addition to examine the key issue of the knowledge which underpins…

Adresses how doctors know when they have learned enough to cease reading, or talking with colleagues, or using medicine and begin using what they have learned to solve the precipitating problem. (Author/CCM)

The California Mathematics Standards are cynical, mind-numbing, and shallow. Instead of balancing problem solving, concept development, and skill acquisition, the standards are full of obsolete mathematics and devoid of problem solving. Students offering only an algorithm when asked for meaning have style without substance. Blind memorization is…

One of the more interesting areas of problem solving in chemistry attempts to answer the question, "What do students understand about the molecular level of chemistry?" This question is also implicit in the more traditional area of mathematical problem solving but in this paper, more focus is placed on devising ways to help students develop a…

Too many approaches to mathematics instruction at the elementary level focus only on the production of correct answers rather than on the development of mathematical thinking skills. Author urges encouragement of children's own thought processes. (Author/PGD)

Encourages adult educators to use a creative approach to solving problems and making decisions, defining creative thinking as a complex process of discovery. States that adult educators should find ways to change how they look at problems and offers some suggestions. (MF)

Order and entropy exist in all human and environmental processes. Technological innovation begins with entropy, and problem solving creates order. Humans learn by building order through conceptualizing but create entropy by not using a wider range of learning methods. (SK)

Discusses critical thinking as the process of moving fluently among abstraction levels. Defines three components involved in fluency of movement: (1) knowledge, or an awareness of the existence of abstraction levels; (2) payoff, or the reason for acquiring fluency; and (3) timing, or a consciousness of abstraction levels at a given time and place.…

Discusses the role of instructional design in the development of learning theory. Topics discussed include the acquisition of knowledge and skills; models of teaching; the teaching and acquisition of concepts; influences on retention; and the integration of procedures, principles, and concepts for solving problems. (20 references) (LRW)

Students often fail to apply knowledge and skills learned in one context to other situations. Although the implicit assumption in educational practice has been that transfer takes care of itself, a knowledge of the mechanisms of transfer can enable educators to help their students integrate general and local knowledge. (TE)

Explores how a set of possible student misconceptions about solving a complex problem can be used in computer-based intelligent tutoring systems and in computer-based exercise and test generation. Topics discussed include expert systems, misconception covers, discrimination trees, methods of acquiring the set of misconceptions, and protocol…

Addresses the distinction between conceptual and algorithmic learning and the clarification of what is meant by a second-tier student. Explores why novice learners in chemistry and physics are able to apply algorithms without significant conceptual understanding. (DDR)

Shortcomings of management information systems in managerial functions are often attributed to differences between "left brain" activities performed by machines and "right brain" activities performed in decision making. It is argued that academic management information systems should incorporate and recognize both kinds of activity. (MSE)

A simple enumeration problem from some research on problem solving is used to illustrate the contention that conjecture and proof have a central place in mathematics teaching. (Author/TG)