Increasingly, college teachers and instructional designers are exploring use of the technology of virtual reality to enhance student learning in math, science, and the social sciences. It is found particularly useful for teaching psychomotor skills and may have potential to make scientific concepts and abstract subjects more accessible to…

Describes typical student strategies for counting cubes in cube buildings and explains why these problems are difficult for students. Suggests instructional tasks that can help students develop more powerful ways of thinking about such problems. Lists two action research ideas related to this issue. (ASK)

Presents a three-year longitudinal study investigating the development of children's (n=82) understanding of multidigit number concepts and operations in grades one through three by using interview processes. Provides an existence proof that children can invent strategies for adding and subtracting and illustrates both what that invention affords…

Reports on a survey that asked, " What's it like to be a gay/lesbian/bisexual faculty member?" A research team reduced the responses to 61 items that the faculty members rated and sorted. The researchers placed this data on a two-dimensional concept map. Includes the map and the rating list. (MJP)

Details the process and results of an action research project that explored children's understandings of why toys move in certain ways. The purpose of the project is to inform tutoring sessions and the classroom practices of student teachers. (DDR)

Discusses the foreign language teacher education project organized by the Modern Language Association to provide institutions the opportunity to develop exemplary programs in this field. Argues that the concept of articulation in this field currently focuses on irrelevant issues and that educators must formulate new concepts and tools to address…

Debates the use of concepts from cognitive psychology to explain the structuring of attitudes and opinions. The debate zeroes in on the structures of cognition, the reflexivity of attitudes, the function of the social context, the effect of ideology on the structures of vocabulary, the communication process, the role of ideology in organizing…

Challenges the assumptions concerning the necessity of feedback in children's cognitive development. Suggests that during a certain and limited phase, cognitive development may occur due to cognitive restructuring. Discusses the implications of this for educational programs, especially computer assisted learning. (MJP)

Presented is the extent to which pupils of different ages tend to confuse scientific and everyday meanings of "Law" and "Conservation." The concepts of resource economy, environmental concern, and the law of conservation of energy are discussed in terms of potential teaching difficulties. (KR)

Identified are some of the problems experienced by students when learning about organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Strategies are suggested which may be used by students to facilitate understanding of these mechanisms. (KR)

Describes a multiple choice, pencil and paper, diagnostic instrument used to measure student understanding of covalent bonding and structure concepts. Reports evidence of seven commonly held misconceptions. (MVL)

Describes 20 trade books to aid teachers in the development of social studies concepts. Suggests ways to use these books to extend lesson units by emphasizing formation of concepts and generalizations, integrating social sciences, clarifying values, achieving objectives, and maintaining of objectivity in discussing societal conflict. (KO)

Investigates the development of dynamics concepts with one group aged 12-14, and other group aged 14-16. Collects data from Assessment of Performance in Science tasks, Piagetian tasks, and classroom science curriculum. Discusses the interaction of cognitive development and classroom experience in the development of concepts. (Author/YP)

Describes 10 steps for developing a diagnostic test of students' misconceptions and the use of two tests in chemistry (covalent bonding and structure) and in biology (photosynthesis and respiration in plants). Discusses the results and some implications for teaching science. (YP)

Reports a six-year study of explicit references to young children's small physical stature in an Australian newspaper. Suggests that when newspaper representations of children and childhood are examined for their focus on children's diminutive size, two conflicting themes emerge: endearment versus depreciation. Suggests that these size-value…