This study was designed to examine the use of mistakes to promote students' performance in undergraduate Algebra classes by developing a growth mindset. Participants were seventy-four students from three Algebra classes and received one of the three interventions along with regular instruction: (a) growth mindset feedback on mistakes…

Feedback on student answers and even during intermediate steps in their solutions to open-ended questions is an important element in math education. Such feedback can help students correct their errors and ultimately lead to improved learning outcomes. Most existing approaches for automated student solution analysis and feedback require manually…

The ability of language impaired children to remember and retell two stories within their lexical and syntactic grasp was investigated with 12 language handicapped and 12 normal children (7 to 9 years old). An audiotape of the child's retelling of the stories was analyzed in terms of accurate recall, plausible information added during recall,…

In a replication of an earlier study, the spellings produced by 47 learning disabled (LD) students (ages 7 to 11 years) were classified in terms of a hierarchy of spelling strategies presumed to result in conventional spelling. The developmental trends for the spelling strategies used by the LD Ss were compared to the trends previously observed…

This paper focuses on the identification of some conceptual factors underlying the initial learning of algebra. It describes a study which uncovered three predominant notions existing in a sample of ten 12- and 13-year olds prior to formal instruction in algebra, and the ways in which a particular approach to the teaching of algebra affected both…

Nonroutine problem-solving, too, involves elements of routine. Often, elementary routines such as solving for a variable are not carried out without error. In this paper, we use new findings from neuroscientific research to explain why even excellent students make mistakes in elementary routines. [For complete proceedings, see ED489597.]

If older children automatically label pictorial stimuli, then their performance should be impaired on tasks in which such labeling would increase the error rate. Children were asked to learn pairs of verbal or pictorial stimuli which, when combined, formed a different compound word (BUTTER-FLY). Subsequently, a false recognition test that included…

A study was conducted to explore the generality of reconstructive processes of memory for social information. Sixty college students divided evenly into six experimental and control groups were asked to read one of two versions of a story: one in which a couple happily agreed not to have children, the other in which the man's desire to remain…

Certain misunderstandings in science, mathematics, and computer programing reflect analogous underlying difficulties. These misunderstandings are examined through four knowledge levels: (1) content; (2) problem-solving; (3) epistemic; and (4) inquiry. Analysis of several examples shows that misunderstandings have causes at multiple levels, and…

This report includes data on the cognitive and affective behavior of college students who were given the tasks of interpreting and formulating Boolean search statements. Two versions of written point-of-use instructions on Boolean searching, affectively elaborated and unelaborated, were given to investigate comprehension, self-confidence, and…

This study investigated how students processed information obtained by reading a passage related to inertial reference frames. Two groups of 10th-grade students (one group consisting of students identified as potential National Merit Scholars and another consisting of students enrolled in level-I biology) read a science text passage and answered a…

Solving equations in elementary algebra requires knowledge of the permitted operations, and knowledge of what operation to use at a given point in the solution process. While just these kinds of knowledge would be adequate for an ideal solver, human solvers appear to need and use other kinds of knowledge. First, many errors seem to indicate that…

Noting that while the number of errors gives a general indication of spelling ability, it may represent an oversimplification of the spelling process, a study examined the spelling ability of 40 Canadian third grade students of average ability. Subjects were divided into low and high spelling ability groups on the basis of the Edmonton (Alberta)…

Defining a "misconception" as an error of translation (transformation, correspondence, interpolation, interpretation) between two different kinds of information which causes students to have incorrect expectations, a Taxonomy of Errors has been developed to examine student misconceptions in an introductory biology course for science…

The hypothesis that word context reduces visual rather than acoustic confusion between possible targets was tested in a series of experiments. All involved tachistoscopic presentation of letter strings followed by a pattern mask. Data from eight college students showed that target letters that are confusable only visually and acoustically…