Through everyday experience people acquire knowledge about how moving objects behave. For example, if a rock is thrown up into the air, it will fall back to earth. Research has shown that people's ideas about why moving objects behave as they do are often quite inconsistent with the principles of classical mechanics. In fact, many people hold a…

Students have well-formed but incorrect theories of simple motion. As children, they interpret many phenomena related to motion before encountering any formal science education. Since most adults have misconceptions, children's questions are not answered correctly, so the misconceptions persist. Thus, every science teacher must face the prospect…

This material is designed to examine the research on how children acquire basic addition and subtraction concepts and skills. Two major lines of theories of the development of basic number concepts, called logical concept and quantification skill approaches, are identified. Major recurring issues in the development of early number concepts are…

This document primarily consists of papers scheduled for presentation at the third annual meeting of the North American chapter of the International Group for Psychology in Mathematics Education (NA-PME), held in September 1981, at the University of Minnesota. A total of 27 papers are arranged alphabetically by author. An additional three late…

A 1978 study (Torgesen, Bowen and Ivey) of the structure and modality variables of the Visual-Aural Digit Span (VADS) test was replicated to determine: (1) if the effects generalized across age; (2) if differences between simultaneous and sequential visually presented items were due to mode of presentation or the amount of study time; (3) the…

In an attempt to understand human aggressive behavior, psychologists have explored and emphasized variables related to the aggressor, the victim, and the situation, e.g., intentions of the aggressor and the consequences for the victim. Observer-related variables, such as level of moral reasoning have not been studied. To examine the relationship…

A group of 24 14-year-old students were presented with sets of algebra tasks using the Leeds Modelling System (LMS), a computer-based modeling system. Four months later, these same students were given a paper-and-pencil test which covered comparable tasks set by LMS. In addition, certain students were given detailed diagnostic interviews. A…

This paper reports the results obtained with a group of 24 14-year-old students when presented with a set of algebra tasks by the Leeds Modelling System (LMS). These same students were given a comparable paper-and-pencil test and detailed interviews some 4 months later. The latter studies uncovered several kinds of student misunderstanding that…

This study was conducted to determine how the pattern of learning on an abstract concept, plate tectonics, differed between groups of different cognitive levels, sex, and intelligence quotient (IQ). The intensive time-series design was used to examine the achievement of eighth grade and ninth grade earth science students. The unique characteristic…

The ultimate goal of reading instruction is to develop independent readers. To become independent, students must be in control of their own thinking processes. They must be aware of cognition and the conscious use of metacognitive processes. Instruction in metacognition will help students gain control over their own thought processes. Interaction…

Developmentalists are convinced that within each young child a process of unfolding occurs to regulate learning in ways that make worksheets and the "force-feeding" of isolated skills inappropriate. Still, worksheets are enormously popular in early education, and math education assumes that number is learned through internalization. Why…

Directed reading activities found in commercially produced instructional materials usually contain information that is aimed at helping children understand the story as well as helping them to develop other skills. To test the effectiveness of both establishing background knowledge and directing children toward central story content, two…

A Center for the Study of Learning has been proposed by the National Institute of Education. This center is to examine a broad spectrum of higher order cognitive skills including the nature, acquisition, and instruction of these skills. The International Consortium for Learning Research and its coordinating institute, The Ohio State University,…

The primary purpose of this monograph is to describe how learning curves can be applied to vocational evaluation procedures to enhance the reliability and accuracy of performance prediction. Particular emphasis is placed on describing two techniques known as the "best 20 percent method" and the "Performance Analyzer and…

Drawing on the exam responses from a graduate teacher education course, this paper analyzes four general difficulties teachers have in implementing inductive teaching methods. Based on Piaget's model of how children learn, inductive teaching is an instructional methodology that begins with concrete instances of a concept, and encourages learners…