A model for the development of scientific reasoning in adolescents was formulated largely upon the basis of Piagetian theory. Included as potential determinants of scientific reasoning were experience, age, locus of control, field independence-dependence (FID), rigidity/flexibility, intelligence quotient (IQ), and sex. Causal relationships between…

A paradigm for learning economic concepts based on cognitive development and learning theory is offered as a guideline for teaching and research. Discussion is divided into two sections. The first section establishes the model's theoretical framework, which is based on two propositions. The first of these is that economic knowledge is not a fixed…

Much criticism is being leveled today at the teaching profession, both for failure to provide students with high levels of cognitive functioning, and for failure to apply careful and systematic thinking to the execution of the many demanding instructional tasks required of the teacher's role. A special pilot study tested the effects of a…

A study investigated attempts to influence student-teachers' interactive cognitions by means of specially designed video materials that were detailed illustrations of educational theories. It was hypothesized that student-teachers, having worked through these video materials, would be inclined to used the theoretical key elements in their thinking…

This document contains 53 plenary and contributed papers presented at the eighth Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) meeting. Two plenary addresses focused on mathematics research in Australia and Japan, and problem solving and symbolism. Contributed papers were classified under 13 headings including: teaching and learning theory; cognition;…

This report describes a computer-based instructional system, the Story Problem Solver (SPS). SPS provides students with instruction about the semantic structure of story problems. It was developed to test a specific schema theory of knowledge organization in long-term memory. For this reason SPS depends explicitly upon a theory of the relationship…

A study examined the development of discourse cohesion in first language acquisition within a functional and cross-linguistic perspective. The analyses focused on how children introduce new referents in discourse across four languages: English, French, German, and Mandarin Chinese. The data base consists of narratives produced by children between…

Data are reported for the classroom observational portion of a cross-sectional study conducted in Tasmania, Australia to examine the acquisition and development of addition and subtraction skills in young children. During the study, a group of students in grades l, 2, and 3 who differed in cognitive processing skills were observed during…

The six chapters in this report focus on: (1) a basic orientation for a focused research agenda; (2) research on reasoning (considering the development of competence and the search for generality in reasoning skills); (3) research on instruction (examining research on teachers, curricula and curricular materials, and testing); (4) research on…

A study investigated the effectiveness of self-instructional strategies in enhancing the word recognition skills of learning disabled elementary school children. Subjects were 30 students in learning disabilities resource rooms whose word recognition skills were at least one year below expectancy, as measured by a standardized reading test, and…

The purpose of this cross-national descriptive study is to measure the extent of children's sexual knowledge and sexual understanding at various ages and to identify what processes of thought children use in trying to explain biological functions and the phenomena of their own bodies as they grow and change. Sexual thinking is defined as thinking…

Research reports on the nature of speech, instrumentation for the investigation of speech, and practical applications of speech research are presented in this status report. The 18 reports deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) cyclic production of vowels in sequences of monosyllabic stress feet; (2) differences between…

Abstractor's analyses of science education research studies are presented in this issue of Investigations in Science Education. The first group of studies relates to research on teacher education (priority of perceived needs common to science teachers and how these might be used to develop inservice programs, determining the level of awareness and…

This issue contains abstracts and critical comments for ten mathematics education journal articles, plus an editorial on teacher education needs by Thomas J. Cooney. Two articles focus on problem solving; the remainder concern instruction about and with computers, geometric perceptions, preservice teachers' conceptions of volume, attitudes toward…

The associations among cognitive automatization, abstract problem solving, and educational performance were studied using 127 fourth to ninth grade students. A number of measures of fast, automatic, and fluent performance (FAF measures) were used: writing the alphabet; reading from a word list; and mentally performing arithmetic operations. The…