This document reviews the use of mathematical models of learning for research in the learning of science concepts. Three mathematical models for the representation of concept learning are presented. (SL)

This paper draws together briefly theories and knowledge from research in morphology and cognitive psychology, as well as some hypothetical information from traditional psychiatry, to show the ramifications of play in children's development. Play is defined as any of a wide variety of behaviors through which an individual attempts to discover what…

The socio-scientific reasoning model is described. This model is the incorporation of the hypothetico-deductive mode of problem solving with the social and moral or ethical concerns of decision making. It has served as a guide in the development of a series of educational materials to help students advance to higher levels of thinking and…

INVESTIGATED WERE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT'S UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE CONCEPTS INTRINSIC TO PROBABILITY THEORY. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES WERE TO EXPLORE (1) THE VARIATION AND CONSISTENCY IN USAGE OF QUANTITATIVE LANGUAGE TERMS, (2) THE ABILITY TO GENERATE POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS AND PERMUTATIONS, (3) THE RECOGNITION AND UTILIZATION OF THE CONCEPT OF…

REPORTED IS THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING CLASSIFICATIONAL CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGE TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN. THROUGH TEACHER-DIRECTED DEMONSTRATION-DISCUSSION, STUDENTS IN GRADES 2-6 WERE INSTRUCTED IN THE CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGE WITH THE…

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of a teaching approach on the students' ability to demonstrate and retain specific behaviors of science inquiry skill in the attainment of critical thinking ability in problem-solving situations. The sample consisted of 318 first-year liberal arts, chemistry students who were assigned to three groups,…

Cross-lagged panel analysis was used to determine the causal relationship between arithmetic progress and two factors (concrete operational development and visuo-spatial figurative ability) in 28 learning disabled boys (9-12 years old). Results of seven operational tasks, five figurative tests, and a diagnostic arithmetic test administered early…

Students who behave as though an equation (function) is unchanged by a transformation of variable are said to conserve equation (function). Tasks devised to test for conservation of equation and function were administered, along with typical Piagetian tasks, to 72 students, aged 12, 14, and 17. Results suggest that conservation of equation,…

This study examined the development of young children's ability to solve linear patterning problems and investigated constructs of logical thinking which underlie the hierarachical order of the cognitive processes involved. A total of 252 children ranging in age from 4 through 7 years participated in the study. A range of ability and socioeconomic…

Investigated was the distinction between identity conservation and equivalence conservation in 180 preschool, kindergarten and third grade students. Ss were assigned to one of six different counterbalanced orders of presentation for the conservation task battery. The factors were age, task (identity/equivalence), criterion (judgment only/judgment…

The purpose of this experiment was to examine lag function developmental parameters and to test a related developmental hypothesis and the predictions it generated. Fourth and eighth graders and adults were shown a series of words, one at a time, with some words presented twice. Between the two presentations of each repeated word there was one of…

This paper reports two related experiments, the first investigating whether children 3-7 years old demonstrate Flavell's Level-2 perspective-taking in a cognitively simple task, and the second re-examining children's performance on a task comparable to the Piagetian 3-mountain perspective-taking task. The first experiment involved a task which…

This paper describes three studies designed to determine whether there are age-related differences in children's memory for implicit and explicit information in prose. In the first study, six experimental paragraphs were read individually to a total of 60 children in grades K-5. Each child was then asked four verbatim recall questions (specific…

This study investigates spatial and conceptual role-taking at the preschool level to determine the components of and relationship between these two forms of role-taking. A total of 80 children between 3 and 5 years of age were tested individually on four spatial tasks and five conceptual tasks and rated on the levels of egocentrism employed.…

Preference scores were determined for several different groups of students ranging in age from seven to adult. In addition, instruments were administered to determine the cognitive level at which the students were capable of functioning. Comparisons between the students' cognitive level and preferences were made. The results indicated that the…