Discrete trial training (DTT) is a well-established intervention for teaching skills to children with autism; however, few published guidelines are available for determining whether a child's rate of learning a particular skill is satisfactory and, if not, what to do. We assert that progress within 8-10 teaching sessions usually is evidence of…

Well-designed problems are crucial for the success of problem-based learning (PBL). Previous discussions about designing problems for PBL have been rather general and inadequate in guiding educators and practitioners to design effective PBL problems. This paper introduces the 3C3R PBL problem design model as a conceptual framework for…

The new medium of computer-aided design requires changes to the creative problem-solving methodologies typically employed in the development of new visual designs. Most theoretical models of creative problem-solving suggest a linear progression from preparation and incubation to some type of evaluative study of the "inspiration." These…

This resource guide, which is intended to help Virginia elementary school teachers integrate technology education into their instructional programs, reviews programs and learning activities designed to help students develop problem-solving skills and technological awareness. Discussed in the introduction are the following: the elementary school…

Issues in the development of assessments of higher order thinking skills for college graduates are discussed in the order in which they were presented when this series of papers was commissioned. With regard to Issue 1, it is generally agreed that the development of these skills is a desirable goal, but there is little consensus on how they should…

Emerging research on instructional leadership is examined in this paper, with a focus on the new perspective on strategic thinking. The main theme is that research must address the reasoning that underlies the exercise of leadership rather than describe discrete behaviors of effective leaders. A computer simulation designed to facilitate the…

Paradigm Case Analysis (PCA) is a method of increasing instructor effectiveness through the gathering of narratives of critical teaching incidents and experiences from proficient instructors and their analysis in group discussions. Critical Incidents (CI's) may include those in which the instructor's intervention made a significant difference in…

Second in the series "Reading-to-Write: Exploring a Cognitive and Social Process," this report looks at the different ways students represent reading-to-write tasks to themselves, analyzes the resulting divergence in their writing goals and strategies, and recommends teaching task representation as an interpretive process that continues…

Ongoing work toward developing a learning environment that will perform real-time diagnoses of students' difficulties in solving mathematical word problems is described. The learning environment designed consists of a microworld and expert modules. The microworld (or toolbox) is a collection of mouse-driven interfaces that facilitate a transition…

To increase understanding of workplace literacy, a study investigated whether data from structured interviews conducted in two previous studies of job literacy and job performance relationships support the process model of literacy proposed by Linda Flower and John Hayes, "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing." In both studies, this…

During the summer of 1986 a conference funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) was organized to assess the current state of cognitive research on the psychology of physics problem solving, and to examine the needs of physics instructors and instructional designers that must be addressed by a psychological theory of physics problem solving.…

This paper examines the cognitive processes associated with higher-order thinking strategies--i.e., cognitive processes directly associated with the employment of knowledge in the service of problem solving and creativity--in order to more clearly define a prescribed instructional method to improve problem-solving skills. The first section of the…

This paper presents a critical review of computer assisted instruction (CAI); an overview of recent intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), including current perceived shortcomings; major activities of the field, i.e., analysis of teaching/learning processes, and extending and developing artificial intelligence techniques for use in intelligent…

Problem-solving skills are becoming increasingly important in the workplace, and more schools are including them in the curriculum. Knowledge of problem solving will be critical to a work force that is dealing with advanced technology, yet many students have yet to master these skills. Based on this premise, this guide attempts to show how…

A study was conducted to develop a model that would promote sex equity by increasing the enrollment of nontraditional sex membership in occupational education programs at North Carolina community colleges. In order to gather input from the colleges involved as well as educational and community leaders, a series of three conferences was planned to…