Innovation and enterprise depend for their success on the development of new ideas. But from where do new ideas come? How do they arise? Finding solutions to such questions is at the heart of creativity research and the solving of novel problems. Reflection, not only in cognitive processes but also in the non-cognitive ones used in solving novel…

All advocates of curriculum reform talk about an increased emphasis on conceptual understanding in mathematics. In this article, the authors use many examples to address the following issues: What does conceptual understanding mean, especially in introductory courses such as college algebra, precalculus, or calculus? How do we recognize its…

Previous research (e.g. "Cognition" 64 (1997) 73) suggests that the privileged level for inductive inference in a folk biological conceptual hierarchy does not correspond to the ''basic'' level (i.e. the level at which concepts are both informative and distinct). To further explore inductive inference within conceptual hierarchies, we examine…

Cognitive, home, and family factors that theoretically could influence whether or not preschoolers' interests were focused on domains characterized by the acquisition of knowledge concerning object concepts (e.g., dinosaurs, horses) were assessed in a short-term longitudinal investigation of 211 4-year-olds. Boys were six times as likely as girls…

Three hundred and forty-six secondary students (127 special education and 219 general education) were surveyed about their perceptions of co-teaching. While significant differences were discovered between groups, all students responded favorably to co-teaching: they indicated they were getting better grades and developing better literacy skills,…

The multidisciplinary study of complex systems in the physical and social sciences over the past quarter of a century has led to the articulation of important new conceptual perspectives and methodologies that are of value both to researchers in these fields as well as to professionals, policymakers, and citizens who must deal with challenging…

This article takes the view that in a globalizing context the concept of "sustainable development" should not be assumed uncritically. Further, tensions arise when education is constructed as an instrument for the implementation of this concept, as manifest in the term "education for sustainable development". With critical concern about…

Underpinning science education reform movements in the last 20 years--at all levels and within all disciplines--is an explicit shift in the goals of science teaching from students simply creating a knowledge base of scientific facts to students developing deeper understandings of major concepts within a scientific discipline. For example, what use…

For over one hundred and fifty years practitioners, critics, and historians have continuously challenged and added dimensions to the meaning and uses of photography. Yet there has been little challenge to its highly disturbing linguistic conventions. By uncritically accepting and using these conventions, those involved in the culture of…

Eight experiments were conducted to examine 3- and 3.5-month-old infants' responses to occlusion events. The results revealed two developments, one in infants' knowledge of when objects should and should not be occluded and the other in infants' ability to posit additional objects to make sense of events that would otherwise violate their…

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of conceptual change texts oriented instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of solubility equilibrium concept. The misconceptions related to solubility equilibrium concept were obtained through interviews with high school chemistry teachers and related literature. The data were obtained…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of conceptual change texts oriented instruction on 9th grade students' understanding of chemical bonding concepts. In this study, the main aim of the preparation of conceptual change texts was to activate students' prior knowledge and misconceptions and to help them to understand the chemical…

The author discerns two trends ruling with many of the teachers, intellectuals, and citizens of the United States. One is the color-blind-myth that Williams (1997) cites in her essay, "The Emperor's New Clothes": "I don't think about color, therefore your problems don't exist," is the phrase that she attributes to this "school of idealism". The…

When students are given opportunities to use their knowledge to explain interesting and appropriate evolutionary phenomena, their potential for understanding evolutionary concepts increases. In this article, the authors describe a nine-week high school evolutionary biology course designed to engage students in using Darwin's natural selection…

Adolescent students learning academic subject matter in a new language face a number of challenges, both local and global in nature, as they negotiate the linguistic, academic and social world of schooling. Making a case for a pedagogy of rigour and hope, the author presents a model of scaffolding that emphasises the interactive social nature of…