The abstract nature of the mole and its applications to problem solving make learning the concept difficult for students, and teaching the concept challenging for teachers. Presents activities that use concept maps and graphing calculators as tools for solving mole problems. (ASK)

Scores student-constructed concept maps (n=17) that emerged from post-instructional interviews about chlorofluorocarbons against a teacher-expert map using a scheme weighted for relationships. Supports the recommendations of others to use expert referents and emphasize concept relationships in assessing concept maps. (Author/MM)

An author cocitation analysis of information retrieval research (1987 to 1997) from Social Scisearch via DIALOG analyzed the top 40 authors to reveal the intellectual structure of information retrieval. Concludes that cocitation analysis contributes to the understanding of intellectual structures in the sciences and possibly in other areas when…

This study examined the use of story-mapping to improve the reading comprehension of six third- and fourth-grade students with specific learning disabilities who exhibited reading deficits. Also of interest was whether the effects would maintain once the intervention was discontinued. Using a descriptive, three-phased, single-subject design, the…

As educators struggle to find ways to engage students in literacy development and content area exploration, performance literacy is emerging as an important pedagogical tool. This article defines performance literacy as the process of teaching students to write and perform stories. The author lists the five major components in the development of…

Although it has become very common to use World Wide Web-based information in many educational settings, there has been little research on how to better search and organize Web-based information. This paper discusses the shortcomings of Web search engines and Web browsers as learning environments and describes an alternative Web search environment…

The key research question in this small-scale study focuses on the effects that an ICT (information and communications technologies)-based concept mapping intervention has on creativity and writing achievement in 10-11-year-old primary age pupils. The data shows that pupils using a concept mapping intervention significantly improve their NFER…

A look at real data shows that Reckase's psychometric theory for standard setting is not applicable to bookmark and that his simulations cannot explain actual differences between methods. It is suggested that exclusively test-centered, criterion-referenced approaches are too idealized and that a psychophysics paradigm and a theory of group…

This paper reports on a paper and pencil concept-sorting strategy that enables trainee teachers to restructure their knowledge in any one domain of science. It is used as a self-study tool, mainly to enable them to break down and understand the progression of concepts beyond the level at which they have to teach. The strategy involves listing key…

Concept mapping activities were trialed over a 2 year period as part of an undergraduate microbiology course. This paper describes this developmental process and offers insight into the most beneficial ways of employing this tool in a higher education setting. The aim was to investigate the use of mapping activities to improve students'…

As faculty, our goals for students are often tacit, hidden not only from students but from ourselves as well. We present a conceptual framework for considering teaching goals--what we want our students to achieve--that encourages us to think more broadly about what we mean by achieving in our knowledge domains. This framework includes declarative…

The purpose of the present study was to identify, categorize, and model clients' understanding of early counseling alliance formation factors. Forty participants who had received counseling services were interviewed and asked about what observable behaviors and verbalizations they thought had helped establish the alliance with their counselor.…

This paper explores how the three concepts of vision, metaphor, and fantasy serve educational research for a better understanding of teachers' minds regarding educational issues. Drawing upon data based on a review of the literature, the following has been found: a semantic comparison showed that the concepts were similar in their abilities to…

Recurrent problems in medical teaching clinic are common and difficult to address because of complex interpersonal dynamics. To minimize this difficulty, we developed a conceptual model that simplifies problems and identifies the root cause of tension between groups in clinic. We used recursive analysis and modeling of the data from a larger…

The issue of structural and semantic interoperability among learning objects and other resources on the Internet is increasingly pointing towards Semantic Web technologies in general and ontology in particular as a solution provider. Ontology defines an explicit formal specification of domains to learning objects. However, the effectiveness to…