Briefly compares/contrasts two learning theories. Purpose of the first is to inform while the second seeks to lead students to adjust understandings held about a field and/or a concept. Each theory is then related to the purpose of education, suggesting that the second is comparable with recent work in cognitive psychology. (JN)

Reports on a study that examined the effects of decentration training upon second-grade children's responses to reading instruction. Concludes that those who learned to decentrate did better on postinstruction comprehension tests than those who did not learn the technique. (FL)

Presents results of research into the relationship between two anxiety measures and performance on a visual concept acquisition task for university undergraduates. Analysis of variance indicates a significant interaction between cueing treatment and scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Further research using different populations and…

Questionnaires exploring friendship relations, perspective-taking competencies, and notions of popularity were presented to 48 children divided into four age groups (mean ages 5.9, 7.11, 10.3, and 12.2 years) and into categories of upper and lower sociometric status. (Author/RH)

Compared effect of six instructional strategies (discovery, two expository lessons, prototype development, interrogatory, and combination of interrogatory/prototype development) on concept learning of college students (N=230). Results suggest use of prototype developmental method alone or in combination with interrogatory method if high levels of…

Concludes that providing the reader with prior structure on which to map incoming material leads to increased comprehension of a related reading. (FL)

Discusses three avenues of problem-solving research: misconceiving natural laws, processing information, and constructing solutions. Suggests that the change in emphasis from problem to problem solver and the key role of "physics" problems are unifying aspects of the research. (JN)

Replicating previous findings that the inability to "shift" conceptual attitude on the Weigl is consistent with indices associated with cortical dysfunction, the Weigl is shown to possibly serve as a nonverbal instrument to assess cortical dysfunction where inability to "shift" appears to tap a dysfunction in symbolic rather…

Discusses the role of computer assisted instruction in helping children develop such basic skills as handwriting, reading, and understanding elementary numerical and spatial concepts. Indicates that techniques based on computer assisted instruction will aid children in academic and social development. (Author/JN)

Discusses the value of rhymes in developing children's concepts of story and pleasure in reading. (HOD)

Application of a five-level developmental scheme to ascertain pupil attainment of four concepts considered to be prerequisite to an understanding of photosynthesis is described. Results indicate widespread deficiencies associated with these concepts. Implications for learning complex concepts in biology are considered. (Author/JN)

Analysis of interviews with elementary school students (N=40) suggests that their concepts about time offer no more of a barrier to learning about the geologic past than concepts about time held by members of other age groups who are ignorant of geological events and records. (Author/JN)

Mathematics is a hierarchial build-up of concepts and the process of this systematic building up of concepts is of prime importance in the study of mathematics. Although discovery approaches are currently used, there are limitations. Ausubel's "meaningful learning" approach is suggested as an alternative to discovery learning in…

Two experiments tested whether children fail to make transitive inferences because they forget the premises. Children did not justify incorrect inferences by incorrect premises. Results between nontransitive and transitive inferers parallelled similar studies with nonconserver- conserver dyads and were viewed as reinforcing the commonality between…

Investigates effects of an independent variable (grade) on three dependent variables (membership, partial association, and generalization) describing preferential styles of thinking in 1635 pupils, measured by a 16 concept word test. (DS)