New forms of mathematical knowledge are growing in importance for mathematics and education, including tacit knowledge, knowledge of particulars, language, and rhetoric in mathematics. Highlights the importance of attending to rhetoric and the range of rhetorical styles in school mathematics, and the need for explicit instruction in this area.…

Paul B. Baltes and his colleagues, who are among the most prominent contemporary wisdom researchers, define wisdom as "expert knowledge in the domain fundamental pragmatics of life." By contrast, this article argues that the definition, operationalization, and measurement of wisdom should not be reduced to expertise and that the term wisdom should…

The described study investigated the effectiveness of an e-learning Web 2.0 course redesigned from the perspective of cognitive load theory. The analyzed variables were course wiki design features, levels of instructor support, levels of cognitive load and engagement, and values students placed on particular pedagogical approaches used during…

This study was designed to differentiate between structural description and bias accounts of performance in the possible/impossible object-decision test. Two event-related potential (ERP) studies examined how the visual system processes structurally possible and impossible objects. Specifically, the authors investigated the effects of object…

Modularity has been the subject of intense debate in the cognitive sciences for more than 2 decades. In some cases, misunderstandings have impeded conceptual progress. Here the authors identify arguments about modularity that either have been abandoned or were never held by proponents of modular views of the mind. The authors review arguments that…

The science learning cycle developed by Robert Karplus and others in the 1960's has been a useful model for many science teachers and researchers. This model stresses the use of structured inquiry to organize knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Recent research in the cognitive science tradition, however, has shown that learning and problem…

Cognitive psychology's most useful contribution to dramatic theory is the concept of schemata, or the mental structures that make up part of the perceptual cycle. In regard to an audience-oriented dramatic theory, this suggests that analysis of a script ought to identify the sorts of schemata that are to be aroused in the audience's minds and the…

Cognitive performance can be improved through the explicit instruction of strategies that produce good performance. Variations in the ability to access knowledge relevant to specific materials that might affect strategy use, students' perceptions of strategies, and strategy maintenance are considered. (TJH)

Presents a model to account for the generalization of attributes from a sample to a population in the formation of stereotypes. Argues that stereotypes are heavily influenced by the attributes of those group members most strongly associated with the group label, and that stereotypes change only when disconfirming attributes are associated with…

Students with learning disabilities work to avoid difficult tasks while trying to appear competent ("passing"). They also check, monitor, and evaluate their actions, a form of "metacognition." These are flip sides of the same coin of strategic interaction and are context-bound, not context-free activities. (Author/LHW)

Activity theory posits that culturally organized actions guide the acquisition and organization of knowledge. This theory was applied to the organization of knowledge within a large milk processing plant. The dairy was found to be organized by social knowledge, yet individuals creatively synthesized several domains of knowledge to organize their…

Discussion of information as a process focuses on a conceptual exercise for calculating the information content of an information process. Topics include Bertram Brookes' fundamental equation; Claude Shannon's mathematical theory of communication; set of a priori alternatives; knowledge structures; and an example of an archaeologist's information…

Agrees with Walter Ong that technology can serve as a transformer of consciousness and, hence, of writing. Shows how technology can work dialectically with consciousness or thought. Discusses two of the potential implications of this dialectical view of the technology/consciousness/writing relationship. (TB)

Three studies of how workers construct knowledge associated with vocational practice were examined within a framework classifying dispositions as interest, attitudes, and values. Findings suggest that dispositions are rooted in individual history and participation in communities of practice and that consideration of how cognitive structures…

Reports on two studies on the dynamic relationships among parts of a thought system. The first study examines the effects of changes in the desirability or likelihood of a core event on thoughts about antecedents and consequences; the second examines the effects of changes in the antecedents and consequences on the core thought. (FMW)