This sixth in a series of edited transcripts based on a conference at Utah State University discusses ideas from cognitive psychology that have implications for instructional design. Highlights include information processing phases; pattern recognition; short-term and long-term memory; purposes of instruction; cognitive structures; and cognitive…

Information processing theory could be made more sensitive to differences in career outcomes for males and females by (1) examining the nature of the career decision; (2) expanding the notion of information; (3) relating the vocational schema to the gender schema; and (4) noting whether variables are general, sex related, or sex specific. (SK)

A detailed description of a layered network model is provided, with computer simulations of key associative learning phenomena and predictions generated from the model. The model is compared to more conventional theories of learning to learn and configural learning. (SLD)

Used a microgenetic method to examine knowledge acquisition as a process by coordinating existing theories with new evidence. Subjects were 17 community college students (ages 22-47) and 15 fourth graders. Assessed knowledge acquisition in problem solving in both physical and social domains. Found multiple strategies for, and varying levels of,…

Reports results of 14 studies on children's knowledge about thinking. Suggests that preschoolers appear to know that thinking is an internal mental activity that can refer to real or imaginary objects or events. However, preschoolers are poor at determining when a person is and is not thinking. This shortcoming is considerably less evident in…

Argues that a unified account for the observed phenomena in first- and second-language acquisition and in native speaker use of tense-aspect morphology (TMA) is found in the discourse function of TMA. Three cognitive principles (Relevance, Congruence, One to One) plus access to a notion of prototypicality can account for language learners'…

To resolve tension between general stages and conceptual specificity in neo-Piagetian theory, R. Case introduced the idea of central conceptual structures. To resolve difficulties of separating developmental level and conceptual diversity, this article reconceptualizes central conceptual structures as self-organizing systems that stabilize in…

Comments on Lewis's ideas about reconciling stage and specificity in neo-Piagetian theory in this issue. Summarizes R. Case's central conceptual structure and its relation to other neo-Piagetian theories. Notes similarities between Lewis and Piaget, suggesting that differences adhere to a limited number of general laws instead of being…

Discusses children's use of metaphors to create meaning, using as an example the pragmatic and "scientific" ways in which preschool children explain thunder and lightning to themselves. Argues that children are being shortchanged by modern scientific notions of abstractness and that they should be encouraged to create their own explanations of…

Considers the ways that conceptual mapping as a classroom technique can help students reflect critically on complex conceptual relationships. Shows how teachers can use conceptual mapping in the classroom. (HB)

The learning process may be described as personal maps of reality--the way in which individuals construct knowledge and how new experiences change the maps. When new material is encountered, learners place it somewhere on their maps; the teacher's role is to relocate it closer to the learner. (SK)

Asks whether theories of knowledge representation provide a basis for the development of theories of knowledge structuring in instruction. Discusses codes of knowledge, surface versus deep structures, semantic networks, and multiple memory systems. Reviews research on teaching, external representation of cognitive structures, hierarchical…

Proposes that conceptual change is constrained by the child's conceptual structures and the structures inherent in problem-solving tasks. Uses a microgenetic case study and group data to examine how interaction between strategies children bring to a task and the detailed task structure redirect children's attention and create the possibility of…

Examines an attempt to encourage integration of knowledge learned in the academy with knowledge learned in practice as a means to challenge educational practitioners' (i.e., teacher leaders and inservice teacher educators) existing conceptions and beliefs and promote intellectual restructuring. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/ASK)

Four specific schemas of cognitive structures that adolescents may hold concerning interpersonal disagreements with their parents were identified, each reflecting an authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or a neglecting parenting style. To examine the occurrence of such schemas across high and low levels of psychosocial adjustment, 120 Swedish…