Discussion of the evaluation of courseware focuses on a study conducted to evaluate the Health and Fitness Assessment (HAFA) program, which was designed to elicit problem solving skills to assess health and fitness parameters and develop exercise prescriptions. Protocol analysis is described and the analysis of interpretive statements is…

The problem-solving performance of high-achieving (HA) and low-achieving (LA) 11th-grade students was compared during solution of geometry problems using a think-aloud procedure. Detailed analysis of problem-solving protocols indicated that HA students not only accessed a greater body of geometrical knowledge but also used that knowledge more…

This study examined ways in which two independent variables, peer collaboration and the use of a specific tool (the TAPS interface), work together and individually to shape students' problem-solving processes. More specifically, the researchers were interested in determining how collaboration and TAPS use cause metacognitive processes to differ…

The domination of the information processing approach has shifted research from problem solving strategies to the structure and organization of knowledge that characterizes expertise. The purpose of this study was to compare the reasoning processes of 12 clinicians and 40 medical students as they responded to 6 positively stated multiple choice…

The roles of cognition and metacognition were examined in the mathematical problem-solving behaviors of students as they worked in small groups. As an outcome, a framework that links the literature of cognitive science and mathematical problem solving was developed for protocol analysis of mathematical problem solving. Within this framework, each…

Examines effects of three writing tasks on students' writing, writing processes, and later understanding of short stories. Results indicate that personal analytic and formal analytic writing were associated with significantly higher posttest scores on literature than restricted writing in the form of short answer questions. (SRT)

A study examined preschool children's awareness of literacy. Subjects included 18 children from 2 classrooms of prekindergarten children who lived in a black, inner-city neighborhood and attended a school that believed in providing formal reading and writing instruction in the prekindergarten year. Subjects were asked how they were learning, how…

Investigates the thinking processes students employ and the text structures they produce in analytic writing. Contrasts eleventh grade students' analytic and summary writing using think-aloud protocols and examination of genre conventions governing students' writing. Concludes that in analytic writing, students employed more varied and complex…

The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the cognition of a graduate student during information retrieval using the World Wide Web. The participant was a doctoral student in psychology with little experience using the Internet, and even less experience with the World Wide Web. The student performed an open search of her dissertation…

Investigates factors influencing language-switching behavior in the thinking processes of a bilingual person engaged in second-language writing, based on review of literature and a case study in which an individual performs three tasks using think-aloud protocols: text composition in English (second language); written translation from Chinese…

The purpose of this study was to better understand cognitive strategies used by high school technology education students who have participated in technology education instruction with an engineering design focus. Specifically, this study evaluated the cognitive strategies of students participating in "Project Lead the Way" curriculum…

Purpose: We developed and evaluated an explicit procedure for obtaining self-report pain data from nursing home residents across a broad range of cognitive status, and we evaluated the consistency, stability, and concurrent validity of resident responses. Design and Methods: Using a modification of the Geriatric Pain Measure (GPM-M2), we…

This paper describes the task analysis of performance-based science tasks that were designed for the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment, now postponed until 1996, and field tested in 1993. A brief description of the science performance tasks is followed by a description of the task analyses performed and a…

Discusses recognition of cognates used in teaching materials prepared by the English for Specific Purposes Project for academic courses. Presents suggestions based on theoretical considerations of cognate recognition. Examines, by way of protocol studies, how foreign students of English make use of cognate recognition. Suggests that strategies for…

The recall protocol procedure can be used as an alternative measure of foreign language reading comprehension and as a diagnostic tool. Protocol use encourages students to attend to the meaning of a foreign language passage and helps teachers to instruct students in the complex art of meaning construction. (CB)