Students lacking formal training in physics have great difficulty predicting the paths of various projectiles. With respect to pendulum-bobs that are released from various points in a swing, a previous experiment found that empirical feedback (i.e., resultant trajectories) produced transfer-of-training to other pendular-based tasks. However, such…

Comprehensive coverage of the theories and basic concepts of educational psychology is provided. Also included are information on how they can be applied in a variety of learning situations and concrete advice for planning, implementing, and improving instruction. The focus is on teacher education. The chapters are: (1) "Classrooms, Teachers,…

Adults can encourage young children to assimilate and use information through inventing, creating, experimenting, and other activities. This guide, part of the "Seeds for Success" series, provides ideas for parents on being their children's first and most important teacher by means of nearly 100 simple activity ideas designed for use with 3- to…

In this address, Richard W. Riley contends that parents' most important activity is to raise their children. Parents, educators and policymakers can work together to create a healthy and nurturing environment for all children in America. Young children absorb and later imitate adult activities they see, and they observe their parents more than…

This study explored alternative approaches to teaching and learning high school mathematics through a fluid approach to professional development utilizing cognitive coaching. Cognitive coaching is the application of specific strategies in a nonjudgmental environment, built around a collaborative, reflective planning conference. The process builds…

This report, seventh of eight in a series, discusses the views of California parents about the significance of a child's early years, their preparation for parenting, and how well their communities meet their child care needs. The California Center for Health Improvement's (CCHI) Children and Youth Survey asked California parents several questions…

A study assessed the cognitive level of academic challenges incorporated into courses offered in the College of Agricultural Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Eleven faculty members from nine departments provided copies of all academic challenges used in their courses. They were categorized by type: activities, problem sets, written…

Examining how students reconstruct stories they've heard can give insights into why students often have difficulty understanding and retaining mathematics. Behavioral psychologists refer to the phenomenon of piecing together a series of events as "chaining." This paper argues that the cognitive capacity to reconstruct a whole contextual…

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…

Two aspects of a 9-year research study initiated in July 1983 by the Singapore Institute of Education are described. The first part describes the initial 3-year phase of a longitudinal study aimed at investigating some important cognitive and social developmental processes of preschool children at different ages and relating them to certain…

Meaning constructs are aspects of a person's cultural worldview. They are those aspects that philosophers often write about as a means by which to make sense of the world. Teachers carry their worldviews and meaning constructs into the classrooms with them. Similarly to teachers, reflective teaching proponents hold meaning constructs that are…

Five-to-10-year-old children identified familiar melodies presented in three ways: intact, wandering with the same key, or wandering outside the key. Previous work with rhythmically uniform melodies had shown a regular developmental progression in the use of contour, tonality, and exact pitch intervals in melody identification. In this study, with…

This paper estimates the relative importance of three, theoretically interrelated sets of variables on changes in students' intellectual curiosity and interest in learning for its own sake. Variables being analyzed are: (1) students' curricular experiences; (2) students' formal instructional experiences and classroom-related contacts with faculty…

The Joe Camel campaign by RJR Nabisco began in 1990 in an attempt to increase the brand's sagging market share. Studies showed the campaign's appeal to young children and teenagers. In the debate that followed, several children's advocates renewed their appeals for restriction on cigarette ads. A review of the literature shows that children are at…

An ethnographic study was conducted with the goal of evaluating the botanical concepts of sixth-grade students. One aspect of the study involved examination of the levels of abstraction students use for naming plants. Nine sixth-grade students were interviewed individually. Each was asked to identify the plants seen in a set of 64 slides and…