This study explored the relationships between student achievement and student, school and home variables from the pan-Canadian assessment program administered by the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC): the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) Mathematics 2001. The study also evaluated the datasets used in relationship to their…

Interactive digital media, or video games, are a powerful new medium. They offer immersive experiences in which players solve problems. Players learn more than just facts--ways of seeing and understanding problems so that they "become" different kinds of people. "Serious games" coming from business strategy, advergaming, and entertainment gaming…

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…

This research paper examines phylogenetic tree construction-a form of problem solving in biology-by studying the strategies and heuristics used by experts. One result of the research is the development of a model of desired performance for phylogenetic tree construction. A detailed description of the model and the sample problems which illustrate…

This book presents a developmental model for peer helping which places less emphasis on students in crises and more emphasis on helping them in advance of serious problems. The first chapter introduces peer helping and the facilitative model and provides an overview of the book. The second chapter discusses principles of human behavior. The third…

The major task in solving a physics problem is to construct an appropriate model of the problem in terms of physical principles. The functions performed by such a model, the information which needs to be represented, and the knowledge used in selecting and instantiating an appropriate model are discussed. An example of a model for a mechanics…

Subjects taught by a model performed better on interpretation of programs and on problems requiring looping, while nonmodel subjects excelled on straightforward generation of programs. The model used was especially helpful for low ability subjects. Practice in interpretation helped nonmodel subjects most and practice in writing simple programs…

The authors present a model which follows the development of a male-female relationship through dating, marriage and divorce. They discuss the factors that cause friction between a husband and wife and offer procedures for coping with such friction. (SE)

Outlines the use of computer programs in modeling and simulation to provide a link between science and mathematics education. (GS)

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

This study tested a model (developed by A. Lewis and R. Mayer) that simulates the comprehension processes used when solving compare problems. The basis of the "consistency hypothesis" model is that young students and even adults are more likely to make comprehension errors when the order of the terms in the relational statement of the…

This study investigated how people reason about simple mechanical devices and physical systems, and how reasoning methods and understanding of a device evolve over a period of exposure. Twelve students attending the Teachers College at Columbia University (New York) participated in the first of two experiments; and 10 students attending the same…

This paper is a preliminary inquiry by a non-mathematician into graphic methods of sequential planning and ways in which hierarchical analysis and tree structures can be helpful in developing interest in the use of mathematical modeling in the search for creative solutions to real-life problems. Highlights include a discussion of hierarchical…

This document presents hypotheses about how much understanding a user needs to perform skillfully using a computer or a computer program. A framework for characterizing user understanding is presented which includes three criteria for evaluating the representation generated during problem solving: (1) internal coherence--whether the components of…

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…