This study used eye-movement tracking to investigate how students engage with the learning process of reading science articles with or without hands-on manipulation of a pulley system and their influences on learning outcomes. This experiment used a 2 (reading easy or difficult articles) × 2 (with or without hands-on manipulation) between-subject…

Insight problem solving is characterized by restructuring. We hypothesized that the difficulty of rebus puzzles could be manipulated by systematically varying the restructurings required to solve them. An experiment using rebus puzzles varied the number of restructurings (one or two) required to solve a problem and the level at which the…

Despite the frequency with which verbal reports are used in SLA to gather data on learners' cognitive processes (e.g., Bowles, 2003, 2004; Mackey, Gass, & McDonough, 2000; Rosa & Leow, 2004a, 2004b), only two studies (Bowles & Leow, 2005; Leow & Morgan-Short, 2004) have investigated verbal reports' reactivity (i.e., whether they alter cognitive…

Strategies used by 15 fifth and sixth grade students to comprehend written problem solving tasks were identified. A naturalistic protocol analysis procedure was used to gather and analyze students' verbal and written responses to 55 selected reading and thinking tasks. In the ten tasks selected for detailed analysis, students demonstrated marked…

Two experiments were conducted to understand the processes through which 5th graders discriminate relevant from irrelevant information when solving mathematical story problems. Visual scanning was recorded and coded as directed toward relevant information, irrelevant information, the question, workspace, and elsewhere. Experiment 1 focused on the…

Examines reading as a problem-solving process and suggests that those processes evident in reading successfully and in successful problem solving can be made conscious, thus enhancing children's success in both areas. (FL)

Written responses to comprehension exercises related to basal reading materials were collected from 23 first graders and rated on a scale extending from no comprehension to application or extension of information beyond the story. Results indicated that most first graders in the group were able to answer detail questions but were unable to…

The conference papers in this collection emphasize the theoretical significance of their authors' work in the areas of mathematical and cognitive psychology. Major topics considered include facilitation of problem solving; psychological differences among problem isomorphs; the process of understanding in problem solving; processing information for…

An investigation was conducted to identify and compare the reasoning strategies used by above-average and average readers in reading comprehension. Findings indicated that both groups used various types of reasoning strategies in comprehension, but that there were significant quantitative differences between the groups in application and success…

Noting that the new literary and rhetorical theories are concerned with revealing the constructive nature of productive and interpretive processes, this paper examines the cognitive processes in reading and writing which make them constructive and intentional acts, and how reader and writer "negotiate" meaning in light of context, reader…

Describes some of the ways early adolescents respond to reading and thinking tasks and details the development of procedures for observing and analyzing children as they complete such tasks. (FL)

Reading comprehension can be more effectively taught using new instructional frameworks--such as explicit comprehension instruction--rather than the basal reading model. Traditionally, comprehension has been taught through a process of mentioning the skill that students should apply, practicing the skill in workbooks, and assessing student…

This paper outlines the current state of knowledge about how intellectual competence is acquired. Implications resulting from recent changes in the psychology of learning and development are beginning to revitalize the science of learning and instruction. Four broad topics illustrate the links between instructional experiments, fundamental…

Three experimental studies were carried out to examine the ability of groups of learners of English as a second language to solve problems of deductive reasoning (three term linear syllogisms) in their native and second languages. In the first study involving Canadian francophones studying English, subjects solved problems more effectively in…

In order to probe the relationship between reading strategies and comprehension monitoring strategies and how they function to help readers in comprehension process, the present study utilizes think-aloud and retrospective verbal reports to examine 20 EFL readers' performances in reading texts. The results reveal that the engagement of reading…