A study was undertaken to explore the problems beginning writers face and how they grapple with them. The subject, a six-year-old boy, was observed over 10 writing sessions and an analysis was made of his composing behavior and the illustrations and texts he produced. In addition, his composing aloud protocols were analyzed. Results suggest that a…

This study used the Montague-Riley Test to introduce a new scoring procedure that revealed errors in cognitive processes occurring at subcomponents of an electricity problem. The test, consisting of four parts with 36 open-ended problems each, was administered to 250 high school students. A computer program, ELTEST, was written applying a…

This paper discusses receiver apprehension, an information processing syndrome, in the context of counterattitudinal advocacy. Receiver apprehension was conceptualized as a trait anxiety associated with misinterpreting, inadequately processing, and/or being unable to adjust to incoming messages. This processing anxiety suggested cognitive rigidity…

This experiment was designed to better understand the effects of individual differences, intent to learn, and stimulus familiarity on frequency judgment accuracy. Half of the participants in the study heard popular songs, and the other half listened to unfamiliar songs. Participants were subdivided into three more groups, introducing the "intent…

The difficulty of computer programming and other design tasks is a function of the multiple abstractions that combine to form a program's meaning. Thus, comprehension of the final form of a program design, the program text, involves retrieving multiple sets of relationships between parts. The research presented here addresses which, if any,…

The development of distance and distributed learning environments on college campuses has created a need to reconsider traditional approaches to teaching and learning by integrating research and theories in human learning, pedagogy, and instructional technology. Creating effective and efficient multimedia for Web-based instruction requires a…

A model of competency-based general education is set forth in this paper. It aspires to (1) set forth target outcomes for the general education component of a baccalaureate degree and assert a curricular strategy for their achievement; (2) justify the selection of those outcomes and curricular strategies in terms of what is known about the…

A study was designed to develop an instrument and methodological procedure to assess transitive relations within seriation problems in elementary school children using three criteria: explanations, judgments, and strategies. A secondary analysis to assess transitivity used the three criteria according to whether the children were conservers, in…

The propositions and inferences in a narrative story can be classified into two sets: the structurally explicit are those concerned with the central theme or structure of the story, and the incidentally explicit deal with information peripheral to this theme. This study compared readers and listeners from grades three and five in their…

This report discusses the cognitive-skills approach to teaching. This approach makes explicit the mental activities engaged in by successful thinkers as they solve problems and master ideas, and it attempts to teach these "high aptitude" thinking activities to "low-aptitude" students. The report begins by illustrating and contrasting high- and…

What is television doing to our society and our culture? What has it done to education? Television has had a great impact on human behavior but rather than communicating, it dictates a philosophy of life, moral judgments and a lifestyle. Television presents a violent image of society where fantasy and reality are often confused. It is a system…

Stimulated recall from videotapes of the lessons of six teachers in two elementary schools was used to obtain data on teachers' interactive thoughts and cognitive processes. A content analysis system was developed and used to examine the transcribed recall interviews. The information processing of all six teachers conformed to a broad pattern.…

Research on adult readers' word recognition skills is used in this paper to develop a general information processing model of reading. Stages of the model include feature extraction, interpretation, lexical access, working memory, and integration. Of those stages, particular attention is given to the units of interpretation, speech recoding and…

The reasoning ability of 20 ninth grade, 20 eleventh grade, and 15 college freshman boys was explored. Three tasks in reasoning were given each student. In the "turtles task" the student was asked to test a hypothesis; from his responses the investigator determined whether the student tested the hypothesis by trying to find confirming instance or,…

This study investigates the pattern of teacher questioning regarding three elements: sequence, student respondent, and cognitive process. The rationale for this type of teaching rests on the claims for teaching students the process of critical (reflective) thinking. In this type of teaching it is necessary to have data before the students. Only…