Problem-based approaches to learning have a long history of advocating experience-based education. Psychological research and theory suggests that by having students learn through the experience of solving problems, they can learn both content and thinking strategies. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method in which students learn…

This study deals with the demand of a task. A theoretical background shows the difficulty of applying the idea of demand (as established in the literature) to the data. This has been confirmed in the preliminary study of this paper, which deals with the analysis of university examinations. Some factors that affect the demand of a task have been…

Creativity in education often takes the form of concentrated periods of arts-based "light relief" from the rigours of the National Curriculum. In psychology, on the other hand, creativity is often associated with a dramatic moment of "illumination" in solving scientific, mathematical or practical problems. This paper explores a third approach…

College students often experience difficulties in solving physics problems. These difficulties largely result from a lack of conceptual understanding of the topic. The processes of conceptual learning reflect the nature of the causal reasoning process. Two major causal reasoning methods are the covariational and the mechanism-based approaches.…

This report describes a program for advancing critical thinking skills in an integrated earth science geography course. The targeted population consists of high school freshmen from a growing, upper middle class, suburban community 40 miles west of Chicago. The information on these students comes from teacher observation, colleague surveys, and…

A classroom cognitive intervention model for adolescents and adults who are deaf is described. The model provides mediated learning experiences whereby a person assists the learner in interpreting experience and learning problem-solving strategies. The program, entitled instrumental enrichment (IE), is based on the following principles: IE uses a…

It is argued that mastery learning is one explanation for the documented differences in mathematics achievement between Japanese and American students. Given its emphasis on mastery at one stage before moving on to the next stage, and the potential accumulated benefits of this approach over time, mastery learning appears to be very similar to what…

These workbooks provide students with opportunities to research and explore future options based on the realities of today. The workbooks each consist of four research units, a future force section, and a reference section. Students are actively involved in the learning process and in acquiring information. The research units in Book I focus on:…

Transfer of learning is one of the major purposes of education. Theories and research have tried hard to answer questions such as: how does transfer occur? and how is transfer enhanced? Situated cognitive theory and research about anchored instruction together bring some positive findings. Anchored instruction provides the learner with a situated,…

This paper summarizes a pair of studies titled "The Impact of Longer Term Intervention on Reforming the Approaches to Instruction in Chemistry by Urban Teachers of Physical and Life Sciences at the Secondary School Level" (William J. Priestley, Holly D. Priestley, and Joseph S. Schuckler) and "Profile of Instructional Practices…

Based on the most comprehensive and current research in the areas of cooperative learning and cognitive instruction, this guide presents practical ideas and model lessons for encouraging cooperative learning in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Beginning with the basics for forming cooperative learning groups, the guide outlines the…

This study examined parental influence on children's cognitive skills by investigating characteristics of parent-child interaction in two tasks that required strategic activity and within which instruction in metacognition could occur. Subjects were 60 third and fourth grade girls and their mothers, who were divided into 2 experimental groups and…

This study investigated the cognitive benefits of learning how to program by determining the degree of cognitive transfer of programming skills at a construct level to solving analogous problems in other domains. Subjects, who were students enrolled in four sections of the beginning Pascal programming course and two sections of a calculus course,…

Two studies on cognitive performance in mentally retarded children are reported. In the first study, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered to 56 mentally retarded children, aged 2 to 6, to determine the possibility of discerning subsets of items that form a developmental pattern of interrelated subscales, using the SCAMMO scale…

Three learning modules are described and investigated as they reflect different students' conceptions of and approaches to learning. The Schoolwork Module (SWM) focuses on task performance and involves a passive, incremental, piecemeal, and rote memory method of learning, parallel to what might be implied by the Information Processing model of…