Considers 33 preservice secondary mathematics teachers' solutions to a famous sampling problem with particular interest on the use of intuition and/or formal mathematics in reaching a conclusion. Considers the relationship of solution strategy to students' background in formal mathematics and gender. Discusses implications for teaching statistics…

Provides educators with a problem-solving process that can be used in K-12 classrooms. Defines, in particular, a solution-focused problem-solving strategy that emphasizes goal identification and implementation. States that this technique helps make positive behavioral changes in students' lives by focusing on future solutions instead of past…

Critically analyzes an article by Jan Klabbers, focusing on methodological, epistemological, and ontological viewpoints. Examines the reasoning process whereby the actor approach model of learning environments is derived from the machine approach model; looks at claims of differentiation between rationalism and historicism, and the distinction…

Defines and compares project-organized learning and problem-based learning at a theoretical and practical level. Outlines differences and similarities both for institutions practicing and for institutions planning to implement some of these educational ideas. Contains 14 references. (JRH)

Describes a student project that enables students to experience problem-solving strategies and construct their own understandings of the problem-solving strategies by researching the problem-solving process itself, uncovering and defining strategies that they can subsequently use to solve problems, and exploring the impact that attitude has on…

Investigates 6th-grade students' use of equations to describe and represent problem situations prior to formal instruction in algebra. Describes students' preinstructional uses of equations to generalize problem situations and raise questions about the most appropriate curriculum for building on students' intuitive knowledge of algebra. (Contains…

The students of a Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving class investigate and explore the mathematics involved in fitting a box spring mattress up a stairwell by solving various optimization problems and by using The Geometer's Sketchpad. The results show that a very small fraction of the class was actually able to solve the problem without…

Background: Games centred approaches (GCA) such as TGfU, Game Sense, and Tactical Games are widely promoted as alternatives to traditional forms of teaching games within physical education. These approaches are promoted on the basis of their capacity to engage students in meaningful and enjoyable physical activity and to promote problem-solving…

Little research has been conducted on how students work when they are required to plan, build and evaluate artefacts in technology rich learning environments such as those supported by tools including flow charts, "Labview" programming and Lego construction. In this study, activity theory was used as an analytic tool to examine the social…

This article describes a professional development course intended to improve the content understanding of middle school mathematics teachers. The design of the course included three professional learning strategies: problem solving, examination of student thinking, and discussion of research. The concepts studied in the course included multi-digit…

Increasingly, machine learning is entertained as a mechanism for improving the efficiency of planning systems. Research in this area has generated an impressive battery of techniques and a growing body of empirical successes. Unfortunately the formal properties of these systems are not well understood. This is highlighted by a growing corpus of…

This study investigated the independent strategy development of 7- to 12-year-old children from the suburbs of Brisbane, Australia in solving a series of novel, two- and three-dimensional combinatorial problems. For each of the problem types, a sequence of five, increasingly complex, strategies was identified from the children's actions and…

A conditions-based approach to the development of microlevel organizational strategies for instruction is explored. The conditions model reflects the idea that differences in learning tasks, primarily qualitative differences in the cognitive processing required of different learning tasks, can suggest different ways by which instruction can either…

This 5-section report summarizes the results of a project concerned with how novices learn to become creative educational computer users. Based on a cognitive analysis of elementary programming statements in BASIC and calculator language into conceptual units, the project builds on previous research on learning BASIC programming. A general…

The relation of knowledge for solving problems to understanding of general principles in a subject-matter domain is discussed. Theoretical representations, called "conceptual competence," are presented to represent principles that are believed to be understood implicitly by individuals. Implications for problem-solving procedures can be…