Students in general and science-oriented curriculum courses used concept mapping as the basis for developing lesson plans after having first learned the technique through a "fast-track" approach developed by the author. Resulting lesson plans were high in quality with few, if any, sequencing errors. (LZ)

Describes how kindergarten children interacted and documented their experiences with the "There Were Ten in the Bed" storybook bags in the home setting and how the children explored and expressed their conceptions of 10. Includes letter to the family. (MKR)

Examines teachers' differing uses of student-gathered data during science investigations. The results show that student language use and concept understanding differed between two different instructional approaches. Suggestions are provided for using student-gathered data in teaching elementary school science. (LZ)

Interviews of and questionnaires given to (n=299) 14- and 15-year-old students in England and Spain on their understanding of combustion and on the teaching and learning styles used with students found that the extensive use of practical work in English schools had only a marginal effect on their understanding of combustion. Includes…

Perspectives that underlie a study of scientific reasoning of elementary students with mild mental retardation (EC 612 096) are provided. Epistemological issues that appear to shape knowledge of special education are addressed, specifically "constructivism" versus "behaviorism" and the relative worth of "constructed" versus "instructed" knowledge.…

Investigated the effect of using gender as a functional category in elementary school students' gender stereotyping. Results support the idea that the functional use of gender categories leads to increases in gender stereotyping, particularly among those children with less-advanced classification skills. Advanced classification skills proved to…

Conservation and metaphor acquisition were studied in 35 hearing-impaired children (ages 6-19) using either cued speech or oral-aural communication. Significant positive relationships were found between conservation and metaphor in both communication modes, age and metaphor, and age and conservation. Neither conservation nor metaphor was related…

Great care must be taken when making the jump from the finite to the infinite. The concept of infinity is explored through a series of examples from infinite sequences, presenting potential contradictions that could occur from a natural extension of finding the fraction form of a repeating decimal. (MDH)

Presents activities utilized with primary teachers to alleviate instructional concerns about using calculators and provide reasons for using calculators in their mathematics instruction. Activities address the topics of estimation, number sense, numeration, whole number and fraction operations, probability, and problem solving. (MDH)

Presents an approach to the concept of absolute value that alleviates students' problems with the traditional definition and the use of logical connectives in solving related problems. Uses a model that maps numbers from a horizontal number line to a vertical ray originating from the origin. Provides examples solving absolute value equations and…

Identifies and discusses four keys to improved constitutional rights instruction: (1) systematic emphasis on core ideas and issues; (2) analysis and appraisal of core ideas and issues in primary documents; (3) analysis and appraisal of core ideas and issues in judicial cases; and (4) active learning by inquiring students with the help of…

For both 6 and 11 year olds, social knowledge had a significant influence on test phase responses. It is maintained that the study clarifies the relationship between the use of knowledge-based and similarity-based information in children's acquisition of concepts. (BG)

Teaching the concept of integration differs depending on which of four perspectives is used to introduce the topic. Presents a method based on the historical development of the use of integration that introduces integral as antiderivative. Discusses examples of differential equations used in the development and ways to connect this to the other…

Article discusses the Science-Technology-Society approach and describes a study (n=116) of differences in learning outcomes for Taiwanese students who study college biology in an issue-oriented format with students who study in a concept-oriented format. Students in the issue-oriented format class had statistically higher scores for concept…

Presents results of a study examining how introductory economics students use graphic analysis. Concludes that the difficulties students have in analyzing an economic problem graphically result from problems with concept formation. Suggests that videotaping can assist instructors to understand and anticipate the learning processes that students…