This study compared the effectiveness of 3 procedures for teaching 62 elementary students with learning disabilities to identify the correct algorithm in solving addition and subtraction word problems. The group receiving strategy teaching and sequencing practice problems and the group receiving strategy teaching only scored higher than…

Design plays a central role in a range of subjects at different educational levels. Students have to acquire the knowledge necessary for the execution of tasks that enable them to construct an artefact or model that can be tested by simulation and that satisfies some requirements and verifies some constraints. They achieve this by means of a…

In this column, the author shares and comments on early childhood educators' use of guidance to foster young children's development and learning. He defines guidance as the commitment a teacher makes to teaching children how to solve their problems, rather than punishing them for having problems they haven't yet learned how to solve. The focus of…

Problem-based learning architecture typically involves a shift in three loci of educational preoccupation, namely (1) content coverage to problem engagement; (2) role of lecturing to role of coaching; and (3) students as passive learners to that of active problem-solvers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues of students' experiences…

Students' strategies for solving long division problems under a realistic mathematics approach (RME) at Dutch primary schools were categorized in two ways: (a) according to the level of how students created multiples of the divisor (chunking) to be subtracted from the dividend; and (b) according to their use, or nonuse, of schematic notation.…

This article describes the authors' experiences using clock arithmetic to help students understand key structural properties in algebra, such as identities and inverses. (Contains 10 figures.)

While helping high school students develop statistical thinking, teachers need to engage them in all phases of investigative cycle. Students should master some of the nonmathematical elements of the cycle involved in identifying a problem, creating a plan of attack and gathering necessary data.

The perspective of communities as a situated context dates back to the works of Vygotsky (1978, 1981) who posited that cognition begins at the social inter-mental level and through the process of internalization meanings become translated or assimilated into the individual level. Within this social to individual transition, learners can be…

This article comprises the results of a qualitative study designed to examine community college leaders' attitudes toward problem-based learning as a method for teaching leadership. The respondents in the study participated in a year-long community college leadership academy, which used problem-based learning as the primary instructional method.…

Many educational development resources recommend making conventional lectures more interactive. However, there is little firm evidence supporting either the acceptability (to students) or efficacy of doing so. This research examined the use of short 'interactive windows' (discussions and problem-solving exercises) in first year evolution lectures…

The conditions under which explicit instruction in checking, combined with worked examples, may be beneficial in learning how to translate sentences into algebraic equations was examined from the perspective of cognitive load theory. In two experiments it was shown that Grade 8 and 9 students were initially disadvantaged by the inclusion of a…

Originality is a necessary part of creativity, but creative things are more than just original. They also solve a problem, or more generally are somehow fitting or appropriate. Yet previous research found an inverse relationship between ratings of originality and ratings of appropriateness. The present investigation employed a different…

This article argues that the merger of simulations and problem-based learning (PBL) can enhance both active-learning strategies. Simulations benefit by using a PBL framework to promote student-directed learning and problem-solving skills to explain a simulated dilemma with multiple solutions. PBL benefits because simulations structure the…

In this paper, I use principles of civic education and social psychology to identify four main classroom contributors to students' pessimistic appraisals of their ability to improve social problems: authoritarian teaching methods, a culture of "doom and gloom," little attention to solutions to social problems, and no linkage of social problems to…

The author assesses the 1987 educational reforms in Ghana that mandated increased emphasis on inquiry and problem-solving teaching methods in training colleges. While teaching practices were not as rote and dictatorial as scholars have often claimed, trainees and teachers shied away from methods that could lead to ''indiscipline.'' Their concern…