Appraises the respective contribution of initial competence and of imitation of modeled response in the observational learning of conservation among first grade children. (HOD)

Examined instructional materials, teacher planning, instruction, and student conceptions related to an activity unit on plants and photosynthesis. Reasons are offered about why the teacher was unsuccessful in helping students replace their misconceptions with scientific conceptions, although the teacher knew this misconception existed. (JN)

Examined alternative conceptions of animals and animal classification by interviewing fifth grade, eighth grade, and freshmen/sophmore college students (N=62). Subjects were asked to name five animals, state critical attributes, and complete a classification task. Results indicate all ages fail to generalize and discriminate among examples and…

Describes the instructional activities involved in Student Activated Vocabulary Instruction--a method of instruction involving three phases: conceptual assimilation, lexical refinement, and expression. (HOD)

Shows how conceptions of literacy in reading have changed and what sorts of instruction best suit each conception. Identifies four conceptions of literacy: (1) decoding, (2) structural comprehension, (3) elaborative comprehension, and (4) critical thinking, and argues that each is best allied with a certain form of instruction. (FL)

If music subjects are to maintain respect amidst a national atmosphere of accountability and a concern for basics, students' music performance must be evaluated. A pupil evaluation form is presented. Evaluated are music skills, concepts, student participation, student conduct, and unique contributions. (RM)

Lists 25 energy activities and describes two experiments (materials needed and procedures used included) for secondary/middle school students. Like activities for younger children listed in part 1 (appearing in Vol. 65, No. 229), these activities are designed to provide concrete experiences for teaching various aspects of the energy concept. (JM)

Discusses how children's knowledge can be measured/described, knowledge patterns across diverse concepts, interaction of knowledge/learning, and ways children construct more advanced problem-solving rules to replace less adequate ones. Evidence, drawn from studies on children's acquisition of knowledge about balance beams, suggests that knowledge…

Over 1000 out of 4000 preschoolers observed conserved identity of matter over time and roughly two-thirds of the 1000 also conserved equivalence. Follow-up showed no correlation between kindergarten conservation abilities and grade one math performance but significant correlations between equivalence conservation by end of kindergarten and grade…

Investigated effects on meaningful learning achievement of concept-related instructional organization and locus of control orientation of 541 high school students. Indicates that externally-oriented subjects exposed to the treatment generally retained more than those in a comparison group. Other results are reported and discussed. (Author/JN)

Article considered a new VD Teachers Guide designed to help the classroom teacher who is understandably reluctant to teach about VD. (Editor/RK)

This paper charts a cognitive history of the concepts of quantity and quality from three inter-related and inter-dependent perspectives of mathematics, logic, and physics. In so doing, other notions associated with the evolution of these concepts are identified and explicated. It is argued that the concepts of quantity and quality, considered in…

We examine a prospective high school teacher's instructional representations of rate of change and right triangle trigonometry to investigate his interpretation and understanding in relation to the development of proportional reasoning. Despite a constant effort by the subject to resort to "real life" examples in order to give meaning to his…

This document contains the proceedings of the 2001 annual meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) held at the University of Alberta, May 25-39, 2000. The proceedings consist of two plenary lectures, four working groups, five topic sessions, new Ph.D. reports, an AD Hoc Session, and panel discussions. Papers include: (1)…

"How many are the numbers?", "How many numbers are there between 1 and 2?" These tasks were set in three fifth grade classes in an educational environment characterised by an alternation of classroom discussions orchestrated by the teacher and students' production of individual reports. They allowed us to analyse both the short term evolution of…