Describes a reading assessment technique (different from most reading level evaluations) involving identification of the concepts for study, categorizing the statements about the concept, and analysis both within and between texts. Analysis allows teacher to make judgments relating to convenient order of concepts, rate of development, and…

A set of immediate memory-span tests, concept- and rule-learning tasks, and an IQ test were administered to adolescents. A color-form memory factor and IQ substantially predicted rule-learning proficiency. Effects of memory aids appeared to induce conceptual rules and serve as a base for rehearsing information. (Author/RD)

Reports three experiments to test age-related difFerences in sentence memory arising from sources other than noncognitive factors. Age-related differences are discussed in terms of deficiencies at encoding and retrieval. (PMJ)

Reviews Bialystok's (1990a) analysis of communication strategy work and describes two studies in which products are interpreted within frameworks illuminating underlying processes of second language (L2) learning. Concludes that products, appropriately analyzed, can provide important insights into the processes of L2 learners. (73 references)…

Examined are some of the distinctive features of the biological sciences. Discussed are the use of models with case studies, universal principles, and alternative frameworks. (CW)

Discusses a study designed to evaluate the relationship between curriculum innovation and the classroom instructional methods of teachers and their students. Concludes that although significant changes in classroom practices accompany the introduction of a new curriculum package, the changes were antithetical to the intentions of the package…

Reports on a qualitative study of teaching-learning by analogy that explores whether fifth-grade students' successful use of analogy in learning science was related to their understanding of a specific analogy; their metacognitive awareness of how the analogy was to be used and of the changes produced in their conceptual structures. (57…

In an attempt to bridge the perceived distinction between internalized conceptions of mathematics and their external representations, this discussion treats mathematics both as an individual, constructive activity and as a communal, social practice. It is argued that this approach might transcend the tripartite scheme of teacher, student, and…

The development of an instructional model based on a learning cycle including correlation, analysis, and generalization (CAG) is described. A module developed for heat and temperature was administered to test its effects by comparing its use with the same unit in the New Physical Science Curriculum (NPSC). The methodology, results, and discussion…

Scientific and everyday knowledge domains are compared so as to reveal the distinctive differences between their goals and the cognitive processes used to attain them. The main goals, working goals, learning difficulties, knowledge structure, concept specification, knowledge organization, role of school science, program-solving instruction, formal…

Discusses the influence of a reflective, explicit, activity-based approach to nature of science (NOS) instruction used in an elementary science methods course on preservice teachers' views of some aspects of the nature of science. Finds that participants made substantial gains in their views of some of the target NOS aspects. Advocates a…

This exploratory study had two goals: (1) to identify signs of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions of functional concepts in students in a situation-based curriculum; and (2) to use theoretical arguments as well as experimental evidence in order to shape notions of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions. The methodology was…

This study examined whether preservice teachers can infer the major concepts that a subject uses in his or her thinking on complex problems if the subject thinks out loud. Twenty-six students in a teacher certification program, 17 college graduates with 5 years of full-time work experience, and 16 college graduates with 10 years of full-time work…

Learning activities and questioning skills that teachers in Tasmania can use to determine a child's mathematics understanding are presented. Covered topics include division, multiplication, subtraction, addition, sorting and classification, one-to-one correspondence, patterns, ordering, and counting. Included for each topic are the aim, needed…

An experiment employed cognitive based teaching and learning procedures in an undergraduate educational psychology course. The procedures were strongly influenced by David Ausubel's theory on learning and related skills. Ausubel defines effective learning as a process by which humans understand the structure of knowledge and consciously make…