Construct validity of a prototype baccalaureate generic problem solving skills test was explored through a structural analysis. The assessment method used three real-life problem situations crossed by six generic skills, namely Decision-Making, Communication, Analysis, Synthesis, Valuing and Execution. There were six written responses for each…

A series of six models were devised and tested to address the structure of elementary school achievement in language, work study, reading, and mathematics skills. The models were based on two assumptions: first, that information processing strategies of children would govern their basic skills performances; and, second, that the basic skills would…

Several empirical and theoretical analyses related to scientific problem-solving are reviewed, including: detailed studies of individuals at different levels of expertise, and computer models simulating some aspects of human information processing during problem solving. Analysis of these studies has revealed many facets about the nature of the…

A series of experiments were conducted to determine what information readers use when they read to understand a story. The experiments examined both skilled adult readers and children beginning to read. Oral reading was used both because elementary school teachers frequently ask children to read aloud and because oral reading provides an…

The history of divergent-thinking tests suggests that new approaches to creativity testing are needed. Research has focused on the relation of creativity to insight, divergent problem solving, problem finding, and intelligence. A proposed situational model of creativity defines creativity as a meaningful response to open-problem, open-solution…

The hierarchical model for the teaching of computer programming to children that is presented in this report comprises five content domains: (1) technical skills of controlling the machine; (2) mastery of the programming language; (3) understanding the structure of a computer program; (4) understanding the logical dynamics of the computer program;…

Organized in three sections, this report presents the first case study from a project aimed at developing prototypes of ideal textbook chapters. The report (1) discusses the Ideal Text Project, in which a number of researchers in instructional science have been challenged to design a textbook chapter that incorporates the design features they…

Three experiments, in which subjects read passages of variable readability, measured "cognitive capacity usage" (the attention level to reading material) by recording by subjects reaction times in a secondary task (responding to a "click"). The data indicated that the easy texts filled cognitive capacity more completely than the difficult texts,…

The shift from viewing reading as primarily a perceptual process to viewing it as primarily a linguistic process, combined with the consideration of reading failure as not one but many disabilities, formed the basis for the assumption that there exists a duo-symbiosis between reading and speech and between speech and word-finding. The development…

Descriptions of language learning and reading behaviors are presented, in this paper, within the context of a model of cognitive processing that reflects a continuum for the logical procession of language skills in human maturation and learning. Portions of the paper differentiate silent and oral reading in terms of cognitive load, which is a…

Problems were presented to 13 university students in which letters were to be added or subtracted (e.g., B + D = ? or F - ? = D). After each problem, each subject gave a retrospective protocol indicating the way in which the problem was solved. Models of performance by each subject in each experimental session shared major properties; choices by…

Students in grades 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and college were timed as they produced the answers to simple addition problems or verified a given problem as true or false. First graders clearly relied on a counting process for their performance, as advanced by the Groen and Parkman "min" (for minimum addend) model. Third grade appears to be a…

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual basis for advocacy of an inquiry-based instructional model. Focusing on the teacher as inquirer, the paper discusses the nature of inquiry, presents its conceptual framework and describes in detail the use of question strategies in the preschool program. The definition of inquiry analyzes…

A study investigated the extent to which bottom-up and top-down conceptual frameworks of reading were held by primary grades teachers. In the first phase of the study, 66 teachers were given the Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP), which was designed to reflect belief systems of reading instruction organized around a continuum from…

A computer model of memory (based on input, retrieval, and reaction time) was applied to the rapid processing of simple arithmetic facts (addition, subtraction, and multiplication) by 18 educable retarded adolescents when compared with 18 nonretarded fourth graders (of equal mental age) and 18 normal adolescents. Results for addition indicated…