This report provides information and conceptual tools needed to foster development of an interdisciplinary pedagogy geared to solving of environmental problems. It describes several procedures to further educational activities aimed at the solution of environmental problems. The approaches presented include the following: (1) The discussion group…

The development of Community-Centered Learning (CCL), an approach to using the classroom as a community, is described, with the writer's experiences in using the model in three classes over a semester. A community is regarded as a group of people who share common goals and traditions, who realize their interdependence, and who strive to care for…

Based on research and teacher experience, this resource guide contains teaching methods and activities that teachers can use in teaching mathematics to adult basic education and General Educational Development students. The following eight sections are included: (1) an alternative method for teaching percents; (2) unit conversion or dimensional…

A series of eight videoconferences was designed to help educational professionals improve schools by applying knowledge gained from research. During the videoconference programs, which are transmitted by satellite to facilities with receiving capacity, viewers can interact by telephone with the program presenters. Each program covers a specific…

This practicum was designed to incorporate critical thinking skills instruction and practice into a fourth-grade curriculum to increase fourth-grade students' ability to recognize and apply critical thinking strategies to appropriate situations. This program concentrated on the increasing of six critical thinking skills: classification, sequence…

How the self-explanation process relates to learning and subsequent problem-solving performance was studied in two experiments with college students to examine whether students taught to self-explain during a study phase show greater test gains than control group counterparts; this is an attempt to replicate the results of M. T. H. Chi and others.…

This book is designed to help teachers maximize their students' learning of Logo. It investigates what students learn when they learn Logo, and how teachers know what they are learning. The book is intended primarily for teachers at the upper elementary and middle school levels. Each chapter is devoted to a critical aspect of Logo learning, and…

Current research continues to attempt to determine factors, or combinations of factors, which influence efficacy in problem solving behaviors. This presentation combines several viewpoints regarding the most important component, or combination of components, needed for the most successful problem solving behaviors to occur. Quantitative literature…

Considering the requisite skills and comparing commonalities in historical development, the disciplines of physics and mathematics can be viewed as related to and supportive of each other, yet it remains a curiosity that few, if any, cross-connections exist between school physics and school mathematics in the area of research on problem solving.…

An attempt is made to synthesize the diverse perspectives on the teaching of thinking, especially in the area of social studies. A conception is developed that incorporates major theoretical orientations as well as the views of teachers. The conception emphasizes interpretation, analysis, and manipulation of information to solve problems that…

The Nested Spiral Approach (NSA) is an integrated instructional approach used to promote the motivated learning of mathematics problem solving in limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. The NSA is described and a trial use is discussed. The approach extends, elaborates, and supplements existing education and instruction theories to help LEP…

This module on directing students in applying problem-solving techniques is one of a series of 127 performance-based teacher education learning packages focusing upon specific professional competencies of vocational teachers. Addressed in the four learning experiences included in the module are understanding problem-solving techniques and their…

The National Issues Forum model, a series of community based public discussions on key domestic issues, may be a partial solution to the "human gap" between growing complexity and a capacity to deal with it, by exemplifying "innovative learning." To engage in innovative learning, characterized by anticipation and participation,…

This research synthesis identifies a number of important concepts regarding the teaching of problem solving skills to students in grades K-12. Studies investigated what problem solving skills are and whether they can be taught, as well as how problem solving can be organized in the curriculum and how it should be taught. Major findings from the…

The study examined whether embedding the linear equations and ratio and proportion strategies used to solve percent problems in the higher-order structures of proportional logic and group properties would aid achievement. Thus, it examined the interaction in differences in understanding fundamental structures in mathematics, and instruction…