Teachers (n=199) from various school levels completed a questionnaire aimed at determining the types of knowledge teachers use in instructional problem solving. Results show higher use of personal/practical pedagogical knowledge compared with formative or normative knowledge, and suggest an interaction between the type of knowledge used and school…

Presents a variety of problems, involving kinematics and dynamics, that deal with ropes and their centers of mass. (JRH)

Discusses Means-End Critical Analysis of Subject Matter (MECA*SM), a new instructional approach that allows subject matter and critical thinking to be taught simultaneously through the use of Socratic questioning and systematic problem solving. (DMM)

Problem-solving approaches to teaching pupils with autism in special schools are analyzed, discussing the structures needed by individual pupils to enable them to function as problem solvers, the value of reflection in enhancing the learning potential of pupils, and ways of increasing pupils' awareness of their own ways of handling learning…

Learners must acquire a general strategic orientation in their problem solving, to determine what counts as relevant information in problematic situations. A dynamic systems approach is called for in determining whether general or context-specific instructions are needed to promote transfer of relevant information to novel conditions. (Author/JDD)

The effects of temperature and pressure on the collapsing of soda cans are discussed. The use of various temperatures and substances for the cooling bath are described. (KR)

Presents a five-part strategy (useful for all forms of business communication) which helps students solve problems successfully and steer logically through the communication demands of any situation. (SR)

This article details an approach to teaching one step in a mathematics word-problem-solving strategy, that of organizing the facts. A lesson plan is offered which involves directed instruction and supervised practice in five strategies for organizing facts. (DB)

Discussion of teaching practices that are effective in developing higher cognitive functioning focuses on curriculum development for at-risk students. Four main strategies are addressed: (1) big ideas; (2) linked concepts and connected knowledge; (3) depth of understanding, including declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge; and (4)…

Argues that fostering thinking across the curriculum can be affected by engaging students in complex, meaningful, long-term tasks such as decision making, naturalistic inquiry, scientific inquiry, problem solving, and composing. Notes that these tasks require an instructional format (workshops) that provides a new role for teachers and students.…

Discussed is how a high school physics class designed and built a human-powered hovercraft. (KR)

An activity in which students compare the sun's brightness with that of a light bulb of known luminosity (in watts) to determine the luminosity of the sun is presented. As an extension, the luminosity value that the student obtains for the sun can also be used to estimate the sun's surface temperature. (KR)

An activity in which students practice vector addition and interact with every other student in class is described. Directions for playing the game and a copy of the vector name tag needed to play the game are included. (KR)

Two computer-generated star charts that can be used as overlay transparencies to show an expanding universe are presented. Directions on how to use the star charts to determine the Hubble constant and the age of the universe are provided. (KR)

The effect of background color on the perception of color by students is discussed. Explanations on why students only see certain colors when viewing colored marks on a blackboard through different color filters are provided. (KR)