The difficulties and misconceptions that many students experience when learning to visualize graphs of functions are discussed. Specifically, the inability to make accurate connections between symbolic and graphical representations, the lack of understanding about scale and scaling, and the confusion caused by transformations are examined with…

Cites results of studies showing that students' language skills are not deteriorating. Suggests using class time for writing workshops to give students feedback on work-in-progress. Considers that difficulty with concepts and subject content may come across as poor writing. Notes that additional writing can be helpful without being graded. (DK)

Effects of acquisition of a problem-solving model on the ability to transfer to analogous problems in different domains were studied with 210 undergraduates who solved a biology problem and a transfer problem. Beneficial effects of the problem-solving model and implications for instructional strategies are discussed. (SLD)

Reports an experimental study of 80 ninth grade biology students randomly assigned to treatment and control groups to determine whether the use of human examples in instructional strategies on Mendelian genetics increases acquisition and retention of genetics concepts. Results indicate that use of human examples in contrast to traditional examples…

Analyzes how practice in mathematics education might be reformed toward a professional practice. Argues that conventional school mathematics be replaced by a constructivist school mathematics based on children's use of their schemes of actions and operations in learning situations as illustrated through examples of the numerical schemes of…

The history of the concept of intelligence is reviewed, and the construction and uses of psychological tests are explored. Skills consist of a large number of abilities. It is argued that the psychological entity, intelligence, is determined by particular contexts, contexts often induced by social demands. (SLD)

Argues that ignorance is a better criterion than truth for determining the usefulness of knowledge generated through educational research. Implications for conceptualizing and teaching research are discussed, illustrating how attention to ignorance can increase understanding in areas such as practitioner research and cooperative research. (SLD)

Shortcomings of mathematics curricula are described and research on the use of sameness analysis with learning-disabled and at-risk students is outlined. The paper then illustrates how to teach addition-subtraction and multiplication-division relationships and their interrelationships in the context of solving word problems in mathematics.…

Discusses issues and problems concerning concept development among students in elementary social studies programs. Suggests good teaching uses analogies and metaphors to facilitate learning. Recommends illustrating key concepts through myths, fables, and parables. Argues that using stories that show how things work allows students to apply the…

Proposed is a scheme for concept development in teaching the topic of energy. Levels within the scheme are described, as well as their interrelationships and their relation to the student's own world. (KR)

Describes a theoretical frame for understanding cognitive development to outline the planning and performance of a unit on electrostatics. Analyzes a female student's learning process and the development of the complexity of her cognitive skills. (PR)

Reviews research on student learning about collisions in physics instruction. Focus is placed on the main differences between the spontaneous perspective in describing/interpreting collisions and the disciplinary perspective based upon the energy and linear momentum conservation laws. (PR)

Examines the research literature in science education to determine how appropriate it is for teaching science to young children 3-5 years of age. In the context of this discussion, a model for the teaching of science in early childhood is presented. For clarity and continuity, the example of teaching electricity is used throughout. (PR)

Examines the impact of a specially designed in-service model on teacher understanding of selected science concepts. From an analysis of 42 teachers' concept maps, there was significant growth in the number of valid propositions expressed by teachers between the initial and final mappings in all topic groups.(PR)

The main thesis of the paper is that geometry deals with mental entities (the so-called geometrical figures) which possess simultaneously conceptual and figural characters. The paper analyzes the internal tensions which may arise in figural concepts because of their double nature, developmental aspects, and didactical implications. (Author/MDH)