Argues that the unit operations laboratory provides an ideal setting to help chemical engineering students become better engineering practitioners. Describes a summer program at the Colorado School of Mines that incorporates experience into a unit operations laboratory. (DDR)

Identifies and quantifies the chemistry conceptions used by students when solving chemical equilibrium problems requiring application of LeChatelier's Principle, and explores the feasibility of designing a paper and pencil test to accomplish these purposes. Eleven prevalent incorrect student conceptions about chemical equilibrium were identified…

The value of conceptual physical education knowledge has long been acknowledged (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 1969; Kneer, 1981; NASPE, 1995) yet has not been formally measured or assessed. Seven multiple choice tests with established validity and reliability (Ayers, 2001b) were used to assess the concepts…

The study of metaphor involves numerous fields in recent history from cognitive neuroscience to linguistics. Visual metaphor research occupies an underrepresented area of inquiry. With the development of the cognitive sciences, a cognitive view of metaphoric thinking is emerging. This calls for a reconsideration of visual metaphor in the…

This study investigated the contributions of students' reasoning ability and meaningful learning orientation to their understanding of the photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Data were gathered through the use of the Test of Logical Thinking (Tobin & Capie, 1981), the Learning Approach Questionnaire (Cavallo, 1996), and the Two-Tier…

The cognitive revolution began in the 1950s as researchers began to move away from the study of knowledge acquisition and behaviorism to the study of information and the way it is processed. Four factors are discussed in chapter 1 as contributing to the increase in popularity of the "cognitive revolution" (increasing enthusiasm for the…

This study investigated the instructional conditions required to teach students how to initiate and employ learning activities aimed at conceptual change. The CONTACT-2 strategy (a computer-assisted instructional strategy for promoting conceptual change in the domain of physical geography) served as a starting point for a training procedure aimed…

This study investigated the effects of K. J. Klauer's (1989) inductive reasoning training program of teaching children. Effects of training and the range of transfer of the training were assessed. The subjects were 34 third-grade Dutch children of average ability, matched on age, sex, and IQ. Children from the training condition (N=17) received…

This paper describes how a target group of seven students in a combined fourth and fifth grade mathematics class used structured representations to solve fraction problems situated within various realistic contexts. Emphasis is given to the ways in which students' thinking about rational number concepts influences and is influenced by the…

Instructional systems design (ISD) is the integration of general systems theory, instructional theory, and communications theory. Edgar Dale, a leader in the fields of reading and journalism and a pioneer in the humanistic/communications tradition of the field of instructional technology, related the concrete to abstract continuum to media…

This study investigates gender differences with regard to three factors of scientific literacy. The study involved students (N=772) in Grades 9 and 10. A 100-item multiple choice test based on National Science Education Standards was used to assess scientific literacy while gender differences were explored using analysis of variance procedures.…

This paper looks at the ideas of R. Skemp which emphasize fostering "intelligent learning" in the teaching of mathematics. Skemp posits that schematic learning takes place when new concepts are constructed by the learner. Three modes of building such internal schema are proposed. Teachers are urged to ensure that at every stage the new…

This research synthesis identifies a number of important concepts regarding the teaching of problem solving skills to students in grades K-12. Studies investigated what problem solving skills are and whether they can be taught, as well as how problem solving can be organized in the curriculum and how it should be taught. Major findings from the…

One area explored in the second (in-depth) phase of the Learning in Science Project was "children's science," defined as views of the world and the meanings for words that children have and bring with them to science lessons. The inquiry reported focuses on problems/difficulties of learning about the concept of "force" through…

One area explored in the second (in-depth) phase of the Learning in Science Project was "children's science," defined as views of the world and the meanings for words that children have and bring with them to science lessons. The investigation reported focuses on primary, intermediate, and secondary students' (N=41) ideas about selected…