Children's mental performance was studied in the context of arithmetic word problem solution. Response latency and error data indicated subtraction was more difficult than addition. Understanding children's problem solutions in terms of flexible strategy use and the fact that many errors have a systematic basis are important in studying children's…

Theories--based on concretizing, assimilation, and structuring--of the use of metaphors in learning are assessed. Each is shown to predict different patterns of inferences and errors in problem solving. An experiment with 43 undergraduates involving college lectures indicated that structuring may provide the most important function of metaphors in…