After conducting several studies on young students' understanding of particular concepts before, during, and after instruction, this paper focuses on the two small scale and several informal teaching experiments based on the idea that the teacher should pose problems to students for which they do not yet have a routine solution method available,…

At mid-twentieth century, the dominant framework for lesson design--the programmed instruction format--was derived from efforts to apply operant conditioning to human learning. Cognitive psychology soon offered an alternative view, represented by Robert Gagne's Events of Instruction, which became the dominant framework through the end of the…

This paper demonstrates how to design an instructional process aimed at teaching general methods of thinking, using the Landamatics theory and methodology. Landamatics is not a collection of lesson plans, but rather a general method of approaching the design of any effective course of instruction or any lesson plan. The method formulates general…

This book provides K-12 teachers with a series of lessons that promote the development of students' analytical, creative, and practical thinking skills. It is based on the theory of successful intelligence, which suggests that successful people use all three skills to achieve success. The book supplies educators with theories, techniques, lessons,…

Solving problems in a visuospatial domain, such as astronomy, may require not only knowledge about the phenomena within the domain but an ability to instantiate knowledge spatially to generate solutions, as well. Spatial ability assessments and interviews of undergraduates show that problem-solving ability can be limited regardless of the…

Scientific literacy is far more than knowing a list of terms and definitions. Scientific literacy is the ability to do processes related to a specific scientific field and knowing, at minimum, basic problem solving. This paper discusses what students need to know in the different science and mathematics fields and describes the teacher's role in…

This document, described as both a "research report" and the seventh item in a series dealing periodically with various educational issues, contains six articles discussing diverse educational topics. Papers include: (1) "Problem Posing in Mathematics Education" (Andras Ambrus); (2) "Cooperating Teachers and Their Role in…

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) describes constructivism as an approach to teaching and learning based on the premise that cognition (learning) is the result of "mental construction." In other words, students learn by fitting new information together with what they already know. Constructivists believe that learning is…

Tac Tix is a board game for two players having a mathematical optimum strategy for play. The strategy can be discovered by application of general problem solving techniques. (JP)

Grade nine students (n=116) were assigned to five different algebra word problem test versions: textbook, student, pictorial, textbook plus pictorial, and student plus pictorial versions. Analysis by IQ levels yielded results different from those obtained in previous studies. (JP)

The advantages that the case study techniques offer to social studies teachers and to environmental education are pointed out from the experiences of a teacher education program in California. (Author/KM)

Simulations for teaching environmental issues are described

Discusses uses of the process approach to teach problem solving techniques to education students enrolling in a noncalculus physics course. Indicates that the prospective teachers are given opportunities to do real problem solving with the hope that they can foster in secondary school youngsters a better inquiry approach to science. (CC)

The complete lesson enables the teacher to relate teaching strategies to levels of cognitive behavior, and stems from the belief that higher levels of cognitive behavior are developed only after a learner first acquires information and then puts that information to use. (Author)