The purpose of this study is to investigate students' thinking of direct, inverse and nonproportional problems. Thirty two seventh grade students from three different government schools participated in this study. To collect the data, the participants were asked to solve 9 open-ended problems, including 3 direct, 3 inverse and 3 non-proportional…

Even after many decades of productive research, problem solving instruction is still considered ineffective. In this study we address some limitations of extant problem solving models related to the phenomenon of insight during problem solving. Currently, there are two main views on the source of insight during problem solving. Proponents of the…

This study examines the pedagogical decision-making of teacher candidates in virtual reality (VR) environments, focusing on instructional strategies, spatial interactions, and associated challenges. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, class recordings and debriefing interviews with five U.S.-based teacher candidates were analyzed, and…

People with diagnosed autism or being high in autistic traits have been found to have difficulties with recognizing emotions from nonverbal expressions. In this study, we investigated whether speeded reasoning (reasoning performance under time pressure) moderates the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition performance.…

After targeted instruction designed to improve student conceptual understanding of physics, a significant fraction of students are not able to answer many questions in a consistent manner. Prior research suggests that even those students who demonstrate that they acquired the relevant knowledge and skills (i.e., possess the requisite…

Theories of grounded and embodied cognition offer a range of accounts of how reasoning and body-based processes are related to each other. To advance theories of grounded and embodied cognition, we explore the "cognitive relevance" of particular body states to associated math concepts. We test competing models of action-cognition…

Theories of grounded and embodied cognition offer a range of accounts of how reasoning and body-based processes are related to each other. To advance theories of grounded and embodied cognition, we explore the "cognitive relevance" of particular body states to associated math concepts. We test competing models of action-cognition…

Taking as a point of departure that consciousness of time is pivotal to historical consciousness, this paper explores intuitive temporal experiences as opposed to the less intuitive temporal experience connected with historical consciousness. The intuitive daily/cyclic, social and mythical temporal awareness is being opposed to historical…

This book examines research on creative thinking, both current and historical. It explores two dimensions of human thought (time and space) and two modes of thinking (conscious and unconscious) as well as both left and right brain functions and artistic and scientific creative activities. The book proposes a "Double Circulation" model of…

The observation that the human mind operates in two distinct thinking modes--intuitive and analytical- have occupied psychological and educational researchers for several decades now. Much of this research has focused on the explanatory power of intuitive thinking as source of errors and misconceptions, but in this article, in contrast, we view…

We propose two contrasting types of student decision-making based on social and cognitive psychology models of separate mental processes for problem solving. Informal decision-making uses intuitive reasoning and is subject to cognitive biases, whereas formal decision-making uses effortful, logical reasoning. We explored indicators of students'…

The main goal of this research was to assess the effect of a dynamic environment on relationships between the three geneses (figural, instrumental, and discursive) of Spaces for Geometric Work. More specifically, it was to determine whether the interactive geometry program GeoGebra could play a specific role in the geometric work of future…

The ability to evaluate options and make informed decisions about problems in relevant contexts is a core competency in science education that requires the use of both domain-general and discipline-specific knowledge and reasoning strategies. In this study we investigated the implicit assumptions and modes of reasoning applied by individuals with…

We explore conditions for productive synthesis between formal reasoning and intuitive representations through analysis of college students' understanding of the limit concept in the definition of the derivative. In particular, we compare and contrast cognitive processes that accompany different manifestations of persistence of intuitions and tacit…

Although a large part the Physics Education Research (PER) literature investigates students' conceptual understanding in physics, these investigations focus on qualitative, conceptual reasoning. Even in modeling expert problem solving, attention to conceptual understanding means a focus on initial qualitative analysis of the problem; the equations…