Examines children's understanding of the variation of sunlight and heat of the sun as experienced on the earth related to the positions of the earth and the sun in space, while using a pictorial computer simulation of the phenomenon. Suggests that, through the exploration of the program, children seemed to follow a correctly directed conceptual…

Presents teaching strategies that foster mathematical communication in young children, which validate their thinking, engage them in review of their thinking, and challenge them to extend their thinking. (MKR)

Describes the process of analysis for determining a teacher's conception of teaching science using interviews. Representations of a teacher's conception of teaching science include a grid for analyzing different themes in a teacher's conception, a brief summary of the themes, and a longer written interpretive summary. (23 references) (Author)

Scientific reasoning of four elementary age students with mild mental retardation was investigated using structured interviews during tasks involving properties of air and electricity. Discourse analysis was employed to describe students' preconceptions about the natural world and how those preconceptions might be influenced by empirical evidence.…

Reviews four books: (1) "A Dynamic Systems Approach to Development: Applications" (Linda B. Smith and Esther Thelen, Eds.); (2) "The Psychology of Gender" (Anne E. Beall and Robert J. Sternberg, Eds.); (3) "Children's Understanding: The Development of Mental Models" (Graeme S. Halford); and (4) "Adolescent Storm…

Discusses the use of activities demonstrating connections between algebra and geometry, which helps students gain a conceptual understanding of important calculus ideas and gives a historical appreciation of how mathematics evolves. Uses distance, speed, and time problems as an example. (MKR)

Three studies examined children's ability to differentiate aggression and social withdrawal using attributional constructs. Found that even very young children understand the meaning of responsibility and are capable of using it to act as intuitive judges, weighing the evidence to make inferences about responsibility and then meting out judgments…

Discusses and contrasts varying definitions of empowerment from social work and feminist literature. Describes what is problematic in the definitions of empowerment practice with older women and suggests reasons for broadening the definition and concept of empowerment so that social welfare professionals can meet the needs of this growing…

Examined travel time in the family car as an opportunity for young children to use distant time referents in their talk with parents. Results supported preschoolers' tendency to talk predominantly about the here-and-now in most settings, but highlights factors that may contribute to children's increased use of decontextualized talk about past and…

Argues that current thinking about science teaching and conceptual change needs to be counterbalanced by contextual or cultural constructivist ideas. A collaborative view should include the sociological study of cultural milieus in which scientific ideas arise. The logic of discovery from a sociological point of view implies that conceptual change…

Discusses the advances made in understanding the brain structures responsible for language. Presents findings made using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomographic (PET) scans to study brain activity. These findings map the structures in the brain that manipulate concepts and those that turn concepts into words. (MCO)

Presents a classroom activity wherein students use dilution techniques to gain an understanding of small measurements such as parts per million, billion, or trillion. Includes activity extensions, two lists of analogies for thinking about the size of small quantities, and questions leading to further investigations. (six references) (MCO)

Discusses how students construct mental images that aid estimation skills in the measurement of angles. Reports research identifying four strategies that students use to estimate sizes of angles. Strategies include utilization of the mental images of (1) a protractor; (2) a right angle; (3) a half-turn; and (4) angles of a polygon. (MDH)

Children were tested at ages four and six for recall of clusterable objects under play and sort conditions. Conceptual clustering predicted recall performance of six-year olds in both conditions and of four-year olds in the sort condition. The stability of memory variables was low with the exception of free recall. (BC)

A study compared the performance of two groups of university students. One group (n=40) was taught calculus using a computer algebra system whereas the other (n=41) used paper-and-pencil computations. The computer group scored significantly higher than their counterparts on both a conceptual knowledge test and a calculus computational exam. (JJK)