Discussion about the nature and varieties of mathematical understanding is presented. Symbolic understanding is defined as a mutual assimilation between a symbol system and a conceptual structure, that is dominated by the conceptual structure. (MP)

Tested competing hypotheses about the acquisition of terms that refer to relationships in both time and space. Hypotheses were as follows: (1) language of time is acquired as a spatial metaphor; and (2) differential experience with the dual senses of each term results in different acquisition patterns depending upon which sense dominates actual…

College students read prose passages and answered either verbatim or paraphrased inserted questions while reading under review or no review conditions. On a posttest students who received paraphrased questions outperformed students who received verbatim questions. This result supported the contention that paraphrased adjunct questions could…

Kindergarten and first-grade children listened to a narrative passage under one of five experimental conditions. Prelearning imagery instructions did not facilitate subsequent recall of story information. Similarly intermittently provided pictures did not produce recall gains for unpictured story information, but had a positive effect on recall of…

Outlines the proceedings of the Cognitive-Development Research Seminar at the University of Leeds in September, 1979. Indicates that the area of greatest interest was the differences between student conceptions and scientific norms times alternative frameworks. Outlines other studies that were presented and offers opinions on the contributions of…

A study of the differences in cognitive learning styles used by students learning mathematics and English is presented and an attempt is made to determine if students do change their learning styles as they move from one subject area to another. (JMF)

After a brief reminder of the essentials of the Structure-of-Intellect model, this paper points out what this model can tell us about the nature of learning, the imbalances in education and intelligence testing, about procedures for fostering intellectual growth, and about other incidental educational problems. (Author)

Draws upon recent publications dealing with brain function (particularly F. Vester, "Denken, Lernen, Vergessen", Munich, 1978) for ideas for foreign language teaching. These include constant use of the foreign language in the classroom, frequent repetition, and avoidance of false associations by explanation in the native language.…

Certain thinking and language skills are common to content disciplines. Different types of thinking are triggered by factual, convergent, divergent, and judgmental questions. The four levels of oral and written response are factual, logical, creative, and judgmental. An effective school language policy balances and integrates these skills in the…

Describes a test designed to measure outcomes of "inquiry" social studies programs in elementary schools. Results indicate that inquiry students, or those whose teachers use inductive methods to encourage active participation in learning, perform better than noninquiry students on tasks requiring higher cognitive processes. (Author/KC)

The notion that a prerequisite for asking questions about new topic matter is some appropriate level of knowledge was tested. Learners with two levels of background knowledge using learning material with two levels of difficulty were studied. (SW)

From a review of empirical research, a new theoretical synthesis of anxiety's effect on learning and memory is proposed: anxiety always reduces processing effectiveness, by generating task-irrelevant processing activities, but this will not impair performance efficiency if sufficient compensatory effort is expended. (SJL)

Research from four subareas of prose learning (advance organizers, response modes, objectives, and inserted questions) is considered and weaknesses in the studies conducted are noted. Suggestions are advanced as to how researchers might profitably spend their energies in the future. (RC)

A contrastive analysis should describe the different processes of conceptualization in the languages under consideration. Furthermore, a detailed semantic analysis of linguistic items should be undertaken to discover perceptual strategies which force the speaker to use these items. Research in psycholinguistics is valuable in these tasks. (DB)

This article offers insights into mnemonic strategies ("mental elaboration") of foreign-language learners, with implications for vocabulary learning in the target language. (DB)