Outlines major research findings in cognitive-discourse-processing research on learning from text. Describes general characteristics of classrooms based on constructivist principles of learning and that support critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative learning. Argues that such classrooms raise a number of new issues for…

The problem-solving performance of high-achieving (HA) and low-achieving (LA) 11th-grade students was compared during solution of geometry problems using a think-aloud procedure. Detailed analysis of problem-solving protocols indicated that HA students not only accessed a greater body of geometrical knowledge but also used that knowledge more…

Analyses of students' social and motivational interpretations of interaction during classroom teaching and learning are reported. The interactive learning was organized according to the principles of a cognitive apprenticeship and applied to a technology-based learning environment. The purpose as to promote the mediation of modern technological…

The term "numeracy" is used in the adult education community to include an array of mathematically related proficiencies that are evident in adults' lives and worthy of attention in adult education settings. This occasional paper attempts to describe the complex nature of numeracy as it exists today. All stakeholders--including policymakers,…

Problem-based learning has in recent times aroused keen curiosity due to its pedagogical orientation of facilitating students' active construction of knowledge. As a curriculum model it is designed based upon the solving of either simulated or real-life problems that generally tend to be ill-structured and open-ended. In such a model students are…

This study investigated the effectiveness of Modified Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (CSIW) with mildly mentally retarded students' skills in writing problem/solution texts. Participants were from two self-contained and multiage classrooms in Turkey. Instruction had a positive impact on the amount of time students spent planning and…

This study examined ways in which two independent variables, peer collaboration and the use of a specific tool (the TAPS interface), work together and individually to shape students' problem-solving processes. More specifically, the researchers were interested in determining how collaboration and TAPS use cause metacognitive processes to differ…

This study investigated children's ability to interpret a natural social situation, depicted in a narrative story, and to use their understanding of that situation to generate and apply a mental model of debts and assets in solving problems including negative quantities. Fifty-one American students from a parochial school in a predominantly middle…

The notion that reasoning develops in distinct phases of thinking as individuals progress from simplistic learning of facts to predicting integrated relationships was explored as subjects considered housing issues. Suggestions for developing and instructing housing programs are presented. Subjects included 13 students and faculty members at three…

This yearbook includes four articles, one of which is written in German. The first article, "The Development of Mathematics Attitudes on the Upper Level of the Comprehensive School" (Olavi Karjalainen), examines the development of children's attitudes towards mathematics and the factors related to the development during the upper level…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has stated that mathematics programs should take full advantage of the power of calculators at all grade levels. This recommendation urges that students be provided access to calculators, and that calculator use be integrated into the core mathematics curriculum on a regular basis. This…

Designed to support the premise that many important clues to the solution of the problem of teaching thinking skills in science are contained in the science process skill literature, this paper synthesizes research related to the teaching of science process skills. Studies which evaluate the effect of the new science curricula are described.…

Research on the psychological processes involved in early school arithmetic has now accumulated sufficiently to make it possible to construct a coherent account of the changing nature of the child's understanding of number during the early school years. This monograph presents an account of how number concepts are extended and elaborated as a…

This issue contains abstracts and critical comments for 10 papers. The reports are concerned with: (1) children's inferencing behavior; (2) instruction related to problem-solving and basic skills for seventh grade students; (3) remediation of children's subtraction errors; (4) investigation of young children's academic arithmetic contexts; (5)…

Features of an effective citizenship program for primary grade children are discussed. The primary school years are an ideal time to nurture the basic skills and values so important for constructive social decision making. The principal feature of an effective citizenship learning program for young children is an activist, child-centered…