Proposes that once the elements of procedural understanding have been explicitly defined, appropriate teaching strategies can then be used to enable student understanding. Argues that explicitly teaching these concepts may add rigor to GNVQ assignments. (DDR)

Shows that the complexity level of metaphor interpretation in English is related much more strongly to age and developmental mental capacity than it is to proficiency in English. It is argued that exposure to relevant metaphors can help the second language learner to understand underlying concepts of the target culture. (53 references) (Author/CK)

Describes the storyline instructional strategy and its application to social studies. Storyline consists of incorporating content area material into an evolving narrative with subsequent material added to the story. Includes examples from grades 2, 9, and 11 storyline instructional units. (MJP)

Study reports data on the acquisition of knowledge about astronomy in children from India, and the cosmological models they construct. Found that Indian children's cosmologies honor a variety of implicit assumptions governing the construction of initial cosmological models and that folk models are also incorporated to provide a psychologically…

Explored sex differences in adolescent preference for older versus younger mates. Found that teenage males were willing to date females of a wide age range, whereas teenage females prefer dating males from their own age to several years older. Data suggested viewing development of sex differences in dating partner preference from the perspective…

Focuses on the understanding of the concept of function and presents discussions of the topological properties of functions and of students' mathematical thinking when they are asked to determine whether a property of a function is a topological property or not. Contains 15 references. (DDR)

Examine, through six experiments, the role of metaphorical knowledge in people's use and understanding of euphemisms and offensive expressions. Findings indicate that people's metaphorical conceptualization of a certain topic can influence the processing time and appropriate use of euphemistic and dysphemistic expressions. (21 references)…

Examined the influence of college students' expertise on use of multiple documents about a historical controversy. Found that strategies did not differ significantly across the groups of expert and non-expert students. However, evaluation of usefulness varied as a function of document type and students' expertise. Furthermore, novices and experts…

Describes a study of 32 University of Transkei (South Africa) freshmen's conceptualization of "limiting reagent," a basic concept in chemistry, based on student responses to two written test questions and clinical interviews. Results indicated that a high percentage of students had misconceptions and could not apply the concept…

Recent contributions from theory, research, and practice in second-language instruction are discussed in relation to mathematics education. Three methods of teaching and learning second languages are described--"Delayed Oral Production," the "Silent Way," and the "Counseling Learning/Community Language Learning." (KR)

Discussed are preservice elementary teachers' misconceptions and inconsistent beliefs about multiplication and division with decimals. Sources of inconsistencies and recommendations for overcoming inconsistencies are included. (KR)

Explores how constructivism is important to changes taking place in physics education, especially in curriculum development and teaching. Presents an example illustrating children's conceptions of light. Twenty-six references are listed. (YP)

Investigates whether elementary children can compare forces by comparing numbers of weights used in spring and balance problems. Reports that children did not identify weight and force, but they were able to use the ratio between the numbers of weights to compare forces. Suggests some instructional methods based on the findings. (YP)

Used are test and interview data to extract evidence as to what level tenth graders have coordinated the worlds of arithmetic and algebra and can move freely between them. More dissociation is shown than was expected. (Author/MVL)

States that students have misconceptions about the principles of mechanics internationally providing examples and two problems. Describes Nachtigall's program to train teachers and reports its application to classroom teaching. (YP)