Reports on the results of a study done in Australia in which students in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 were given word association tests and were asked to react to photographs in an effort to determine their environmental knowledge and attitudes. Lists the key words used as the stimuli. (TW)

Defines a generalization as "a descriptive statement of broad application indicating a relationship between two or more concepts." Argues that successful teaching about generalizations can only occur when students understand the relationship between concepts and facts. Discusses four issues and four approaches related to teaching…

Discussed are inconsistencies and cognitive conflict with respect to current mathematical knowledge of students and how that knowledge might be modified is discussed. The inconsistencies that students generate for themselves and those produced by the teacher are described. (KR)

Reviews a monograph which addresses children's higher-order thinking skills. Suggests the following for teaching problem solving: identify and develop content-independent and content-dependent problem-solving skills, connect developed skills through workshop-style activities to subject discipline, and help students identify and reconstruct their…

Discusses a new approach to mathematics education that moves away from methods that tell students what to do and toward methods that help students build mental representations of mathematical concepts. Contrasts the previous and emerging views and examines aspects of the new approach. (26 references) (MDH)

Investigates effect of computer-aided instruction (CAI) on acquisition of communication skills. Sketches a tutorial of the basic communication structure. Recommends confining CAI to cognitive learning because CAI cannot advance communication skills. Maintains that integrating CAI in social arrangements will allow the computer to remain an…

Videotaped interviews of 29 Australian students from grades 1-3 were analyzed to assess and compare the processing loads of mathematical representations and strategies used by teachers and children to learn the concept of place value. Results indicated that some representations and strategies impose an unnecessary processing load that can…

Investigated is a reader's ability to comprehend written text that is highly novel with few semantic cues. The theoretical perspective, assessment theory, materials and methods, and the results of this study are discussed. (KR)

It is generally accepted that mathematical reasoning, like language acquisition, is part of normal cognitive development. This paper proposes that other variables must be considered when explaining the differences in the acquisition of mathematical reasoning skills in young children. Considered is some of the evidence that suggests that certain…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

This handbook has been structured to provide teachers (K-2) with the most recent research on problem solving. It contains information and practical applications which deal with the key concepts of problem solving in mathematics. The handbook consists of four sections. The first section establishes the background and gives the purposes of the…

This study investigated the role of knowledge base organization in elementary school students' memory performance. In a preliminary study, students in grades 2, 6, and 10 rated words from three semantic categories for their category representativeness. Results disclosed age-related changes in how children rate words for high and low typicality.…

Discusses the relationship of school size to understanding of scientific concepts. Results indicated that students in small high schools had fewer instances of understanding and more instances of misunderstanding of the concepts of diffusion and homeostasis. No difference was observed for concepts related to food production in plants and…

Reports on a study designed to examine the effect of concrete and formal instruction upon reasoning and science achievement of sixth grade students. Results indicated that the concrete instruction group had significantly higher levels of performance in science achievement and cognitive development and that males outperformed females. (TW)

Discussed are possible reasons behind the inconsistencies in the learning of calculus. Implicated are students' beliefs, mathematical paradigms including concept image and concept definition, language use, and curriculum sequencing. (KR)