The series is a collection of translations from the Soviet literature of the past 25 years on research in the psychology of mathematical instruction and the related methods of teaching mathematics. The aim of the series is to acquaint educators and teachers with directions, ideas, and accomplishments in the psychology of mathematical instruction…

The purpose of this project was to develop new information and analyses that would contribute to development of a systematic understanding of cognitive structure, including its acquisition and utilization during problem solving. Experimental and theoretical work was done on three specific problems. (1) Studies of individual differences and effects…

The development and use of intuitive thinking, at all levels of education, have been of concern to scholars in recent years. This paper discusses the findings and theories of various scholars about intuitive thinking and learning, including the work of Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Richard Jones, and Robert Ornstein. The paper also explores the use…

Three approaches to teaching university-level creative problem-solving skills are described. (BD)

The nature of insight is discussed as it relates to mathematical models. Intuition and the intuitively obvious are argued to have no necessary connection with models. (MP)

Discusses general ways to approach and solve engineering problems. Uses the phase plane and perturbation methods to illustrate the qualitative study of equations. (MLH)

Recommendations for teaching problem solving stem from a discussion of the differences in the functioning of the left and right hemispheres of a person's brain. (JT)

A historical analysis reveals that the journal has become increasingly the organ of college and university science educators, fewer women now contribute articles, and that Dewey's focus on reflective thinking and problem solving has continued to appeal to science educators. (CP)

Described are random, systematic, and guided trial-and-error strategies for problem-solving with a computer. (JH)

Sixty graduate students sorted stories according to three dimensions for classifying analogies: (1) physical similarity; (2) similarity in goals; and (3) whether the analogy leads to a reformulation of the question. High interrater agreement supports the use of the three dimensions to understand earlier inconsistent results in analogical problem…

The study investigated the cognitive processes underlying differences in computer competency between 29 intellectually gifted and 14 nongifted children. Findings are analyzed. (Author/MT)

Current hypotheses explaining the link between learning disability and delinquency are evaluated. An alternative hypothesis is proposed which postulates that ineffective social cognitive problem-solving skills increase risk for delinquency in learning-disabled youth. (Author/DB)

Describes three models for teaching effective thinking, but warns against oversimplified approaches. (SRT)

The mental activities involving functions were studied with 60 children aged 4-15. Search strategies used for solving a problem reveal different stages toward the discovery of the monotonic property, which correspond to stages of proportional reasoning found by Piaget. Dependence between stage and age is confirmed. (Author/MNS)

The goal of this unified theory of human reasoning is to specify what constitutes reasoning and to characterize the psychological distinction between inductive and deductive reasoning. The theory views reasoning as the controlled and mediated application of three processes (encoding, comparison and selective combination) to inferential rules. (JAZ)