This study investigates middle school mathematics students' views and interpretations of graphical representations as they use graphs to answer algebraic questions--specifically, questions that require them to extrapolate information from graphs. From data gathered in videotaped interviews, students' verbal responses were analyzed as well as any…

The assessment of hearing impaired children is fraught with a number of problems. These include lack of valid assessment measures, faulty theoretical assumptions, lack of knowledge regarding the functioning of cognitive processes of these children, and biases against these children. This article briefly considers these issues and describes a study…

Holding the premise that the development of expertise is a continuous process, this study concerns expert models and modeling processes associated with a modeling tool called Model-It. Five advanced Ph.D. students in environmental engineering and public health used Model-It to create and test models of water quality. Using "think aloud" technique…

This chapter is an introduction to how the learning process changes the brain, with special attention to the facilitative role of the adult educator/mentor.

The metacognitive performance of four groups of students was examined. The students' processes of visual analysis and discrimination of real-life pictures were used to measure metacognition. There were 61 participants: 18 hearing students, 18 deaf and hard of hearing students, 16 students with mild mental disabilities, and 9 students with physical…

Relations of the components of cognitive adaptation theory (self-esteem, optimism, control) to quality of life and benefit finding were examined for 70 women (91% Caucasian) diagnosed with Stage I, II, or III breast cancer over 5 years ago. Half of these women experienced a recurrence within the 5 years; the other half remained disease free. Women…

The present study outlines a specific three-level hierarchy of the cognitive system, in particular the relationship between cognitive and metacognitive processes in mathematics. The emphasis is on the impact of processing efficiency and working memory ability on the development of self-representation and mathematical performance. We developed and…

The unrehearsed performance of music, called "sight-reading" (SR), is a basic skill for all musicians. It is of particular interest for musical occupations such as the piano accompanist, the conductor, or the correpetiteur. However, up until now, there is no theory of SR which considers all relevant factors such as practice-related…

Objective: The undertreatment of ethnic minority children with ADHD prompted a study on the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on the executive functions of African American children with ADHD. Method: Nineteen African American children with ADHD are tested on the Tower of Hanoi (TOH) and the Paired Associates Learning Task (PAL) in a double-blind…

Recently, more attention is being given to identifying aging-related and dementia-related pathological changes in performance and cognition among persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). This literature review examines age-related differences in specific aspects of cognitive functioning and cognitive performance of people with ID and…

The author believes that information technologies are powerfully heuristic in addressing one of education's deepest ambitions. Following Engelbart's paradigm, he sees these technologies as augmenting human intellect, not simply because they permit high-speed calculations but also because they externalize our own cognitive processes in a way that…

One of the key reasons that multimedia, and particularly hypertext systems, are gaining in importance is that they inspire hopes of optimizing learners' processes of knowledge construction. The present study is concerned with the respective influence of individual learner variables (i.e. particularly domain-specific prior knowledge) on the use of…

In undergraduate mathematics courses, pre-service elementary school teachers are often faced with the task of re-learning some of the concepts they themselves struggled with in their own schooling. This often involves different cognitive processes and psychological issues than initial learning: pre-service teachers have had many more opportunities…

This book provides a comprehensive review of teaching-learning models used in the development and implementation of a curriculum for gifted students. The models described were selected for their demonstrated or potential success with gifted children and their widespread use. For each model, the following types of information are provided:…

The discussion of bilingualism and bilingual education focuses on three common concerns: (1) whether children will suffer if they become bilingual; (2) whether they will suffer from education using two languages; and (3) whether bilingualism and bilingual education are more successful when chosen or when imposed on a population. The three…