Investigates the effect of various strategy-modeling techniques on the performance of both young children and elderly adults on the 20 Question Task. (Author/MP)

Explains the differences between successful and unsuccessful problem solvers' exploration of a problem, translation of information into different forms, approach to devising and executing a plan, and rechecking work. (RT)

Investigates the influence of five cognitive variables on high school students' performance on balancing chemical equations by inspection. Reports that reasoning, restructuring, and disembedding variables could be a single variable, and that working memory capacity does not influence overall performance. Results of hierarchical regression analysis…

Reports a study which identified different problem-solving strategies among Hong Kong high school chemistry students. Finds that student experts employed a recognition plus a working forwards strategy, whereas student novices attempted a means-end analysis to create a solution procedure. Comparisons were made with problem-solving in physics. (GG)

Recent research in science education examines learning from four foci: (1) concept learning; (2) developmental; (3) differential; and (4) problem-solving. These perspectives provide a framework for identifying mechanisms of change in knowledge/thinking processes. In-depth coverage of several science topics may benefit students more than fleeting…

Describes instructional design as a high-level thinking process to provide more information on the way instructional design is learned and actually practiced. Topics discussed include cognitive psychology, design models, planning, schema theory, development of expertise, metacognition, problem solving, and implications for training and future…

Proposes a new conceptual framework, embedded in a dynamic model, that accounts for children's failure to reason transitively. Examines five different models of transitive reasoning. Develops a model of how children initially represent and then use the ordered information available in the transitive inference model and how these processes change…

A study compared results of 2 teaching methods, traditional Socratic method (22 students) and a problem-based curriculum (35 students) in a University of Kentucky medical school surgery clerkship. Results showed the problem-based method resulted in similar knowledge level but improved clinical problem-solving skills. (Author/MSE)

Results of a systematic investigation into university students' (n=236) misunderstandings of d.c. simple circuit operations are reported. These results provide evidence of various misconceptions present before and after teaching the following topics: a battery as a source of constant current; the functional relation expressed by Ohm's law; power…

Student problem-solving behaviors are analyzed using a four-dimensional framework with related detrimental factors identified for each dimension. General approaches and specific techniques developed to address negative factors are reviewed. Examined are means of developing the components of problem-solving teaching. (KR)

Examination of a second grade additive-bilingual (Spanish-immersion) classroom, compared to a monolingual classroom for nonverbal problem-solving and native-language development, found significant differences in problem solving in favor of the bilingual class and no significant differences in native-language development. (46 references) (Author/CB)

Twenty-nine children with learning disabilities (LD) in grades 2 and 4 through 7 were compared with children without LD for their development of proportional structures of thought. Significantly fewer children with LD had constructed second-order logical structures necessary to act on problems using multiplicative and preproportional reasoning.…

Two experiments related structure of a task to underlying cognitive mechanisms. Found that 3-year olds were no better at predicting behavior from partially true beliefs than from entirely false beliefs. Three- and 4-year olds, and autistic children had distinct performance profiles across tasks. Concluded that conceptual foundations for a…

Two studies examined nutritional differences between home breakfasts and breakfasts served at preschool following School Breakfast Program guidelines and evaluated nutritional impact of program participation on 4-year olds' preacademic performance. Results indicated that breakfast intake was altered under school breakfast conditions. Performance…

Observed gesture and speech to investigate patterns of change in third and fourth graders' strategies for solving mathematical equivalence problems before and after an intervention. Children who received instruction were more likely to generate new strategies. Gradual change was more common. Abrupt strategy change was more common in children who…