Compares the impact of a role-play versus a conventional discussion on students' argumentation on an issue involving animal transgenesis. Applies two different debate situations and asks students to decide whether or not to approve a giant transgenic salmon farm being set up in a seaside village. (Contains 30 references.) (Author/YDS)

This paper describes the problem-solving behaviors of 12 mathematicians as they completed four mathematical tasks. The emergent problem-solving framework draws on the large body of research, as grounded by and modified in response to our close observations of these mathematicians. The resulting "Multidimensional Problem-Solving Framework" has four…

This paper discusses a cognitive model of how action agendas and goals emerge through the dynamics of self-organization in collaborative activities. While machines are designed to perform a function, or goal, humans are self-organizing systems that set their own goals and produce order without having external order imposed on them, or, more…

Many students face chemistry courses with a sense of fear and foreboding because it is a required course. Yet at the same time, fundamentals of chemistry have become intertwined in countless professions to say nothing of its growing importance in our everyday lives. Educators must bridge this dichotomy between attitude and importance. This paper…

A study on sampling errors of variance components was conducted within the framework of generalizability theory by P. L. Smith (1978). The study used an intuitive approach for solving the problem of how to allocate the number of conditions to different facets in order to produce the most stable estimate of the universe score variance. Optimization…

An action of an individual or a societal action that has an impact on other societies constitutes a "global issue." Global climate change, airborne toxins, ozone depletion, and solid waste management are a few of the global issues concerning the environment. This digest discusses methods by which students learn about global issues and…

A study investigated how the attribution of a problem solution to an individual or group affects the consumer's perception of the solution's quality. Based on the tendency to support group decision-making (Hydra phenomenon) it was predicted that decisions attributed to groups would be perceived as higher in quality than those made by individuals,…

This article describes a study done to compare, quantitatively and qualitatively, the problem-solving and decision-making performance of four populations: business administration students, middle managers, elementary school teachers and elementary and secondary school principals. Results show business administration students and middle managers…

Group decision making has three basic goals: to develop the best solution to the problem; to gain wide acceptance for the solution; and to achieve an agreeable solution in the shortest time possible. In order to be successful, group decision making requires a highly skilled conference leader. (Author/WM)

This article focuses on "organizational health, i.e., the health of a school, through redefinition of the role of the school principal". (JC)

To address the effectiveness, the process, and the results of decisionmaking groups that include both administrators and teachers, and to discern the difference between the effective and less effective decisionmaking groups, 107 test groups, each composed of one Florida elementary school principal and two teachers from the same school, were…

Organizational change in college academic administration and structure is discussed, with attention to both the programs of study and the organizational units. The ideas of Miles and Snow on organizational adaptation are examined, along with the literature on organizational analysis in higher education over the past 20 years. Three main ideas of…

As a consequence of studies indicating that students' ability to think can be improved through direct instruction, this booklet presents one approach to teaching thinking skills within the context of existing curricula--a model described as the "inclusion process." The booklet discusses what thinking skills should be taught and how to…

This document was written for junior and senior high school students to help them learn to cope more effectively with their problems. It is intended as a quide for helping adolescents explore and solve problems through constructive critical thinking. Ten steps in the process of constructive critical thinking are presented with personal and social…

This paper, which analyzes the evaluative aspect of affectivity, argues that the functional internalization of organic evolution for the formation of the intellectual system of human beings required that some means of selecting behavioral variations be devised, and that the selective mechanism devised was the affective system. From this…