Examined evidence for transitions in first and second graders' analogical reasoning, over a six-month period. Found strong evidence for bimodality in test performance frequency distributions and weaker evidence for inaccessibility in frequency distributions. Transitional subjects showed a temporary increase of inconsistent solution behavior and…

Describes the Engineering Link Project for Year 11 students that might have an interest in engineering. It is a three-day course organized by teachers and conducted by engineers to give students the opportunity to test materials, design, construct, and try their own solutions to an engineering problem. (AIM)

A study trained 10 5-year-old typical children, 11 5-year-old gifted children, and 11 7-year-old typical children on strategy use. Several differences among groups were found, generally favoring the gifted children in terms of performance and maintenance of strategies. In addition, the gifted children seemed to use categorization strategies…

Discusses a problem that appeared in the September, 1999 issue of this journal and presents solutions from students in grades 2-6. The question involved using colored cubes rearranged to make different stacked towers. (KHR)

Describes how 4th grade students thought like mathematicians and illustrates their thinking through classroom vignettes. (KHR)

Illustrates ways of using algebra tiles to give students a visual model of competing squares that appear in algebra as well as in higher mathematics. Such visual representations give substance to the symbolic manipulation and give students who do not learn symbolically a way of understanding the underlying concepts of completing the square. (KHR)

Explores the five multiplication techniques found in the 12th century Lilavati by Bhaskara, which appear again in the 1494 Summa by Pacioli. Includes a student worksheet. (KHR)

Investigated the metacognitive development of a group of students in a course aiming to develop deep approaches and conceptual understanding. Found considerable diversity in the approaches used by students, and also in the degrees to which those not initially using a conceptual (deep) approach were able to develop this approach. (EV)

Reports on a study designed to build instructional software to improve estimation, reasoning, and problem solving skills using an animation-based tutor for algebra word problems. Concludes that estimation and the solution of simpler problems (i.e., decomposition) are effective strategies. (Author/MM)

Describes Strategy Access Rods (SARs), balsa-wood, prism-like or rectangular rods on which a one-sentence reading strategy phrase in the first person is printed. Notes SARs serve as a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile reminder of the strategies available to developing readers. Discusses use of SARs for word recognition and comprehension.…

Discusses the branching structure of hypermedia that can accommodate individual learning differences. Highlights include interactivity; self-learning skills; a conceptual framework; a model of self-regulated learning; prior knowledge; and future research directions. (Author/LRW)

Advocates experiential education in parental education classes. Explores the definition of experiential learning, why it succeeds, and how to incorporate it. Specifically addresses: (1) the learning part; (2) sensory input; (3) interpretation and organization; (4) metaphors; (5) motion; (6) types of activities; and (7) long-term implementation.…

Introduces the symposium on Virtual Geographies in this issue focusing on using the Internet effectively to teach geography. States that the papers provide a degree of assessment about the use of the Internet in geography at the higher education level. (CMK)

Assesses the impact of using the structure strategy as a base for an intergenerational Internet tutoring program in which older adults provided Internet-based tutoring for 5th-grade students. Both tutors and children in the structure strategy group with tutors increased strategy use, total and main idea recall, and self-efficacy. Findings have…

Discusses examples of the detailed explanations that students offered in response to a written, open-ended geometry task, especially the ways in which students communicated their knowledge. Illustrates how different students may select different methods of communication such as using text, diagrams, or mathematical symbols to display their…