Many students have traditionally found the processes of algebraic manipulation, especially factorisation, difficult to learn. This study investigated the value of introducing students to a Vedic method of multiplication of arithmetic numbers to algebra that is very visual in its application. This research considered a possible role of the…

A two-dimensional weather map is actually a physical representation of three-dimensional atmospheric conditions at a specific point in time. Abstract thinking is required to visualize this two-dimensional image in three-dimensional form. But once that visualization is accomplished, many of the meteorological concepts and processes conveyed by the…

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…

Designing successful learning environments entails drawing on theoretical perspectives on learning while, at the same time, being cognisant of the affordances and constraints of the technology. This paper reports on the development of a software environment called "3DMath", a dynamic three-dimensional geometry microworld aimed at enabling learners…

Imagining what one will be like as an older adult can be a difficult task at mid life, let alone during young adulthood. Yet, pondering senescence has positive benefits for young adults with respect to their future physical, financial and social well being. This article describes an exercise used with more than 300 introductory-level gerontology…

A current area of controversy within the literature on visual word recognition concerns the extent to which semantic information influences the computation of phonology. Experiment 1 revealed that both the imageability effect and the ambiguity advantage seen in the speeded naming task are confined to words with atypical mappings between spelling…

We have concluded that teaching undergraduate students to use spreadsheet software to analyze, interpret, and communicate spreadsheet data through a graph is an information technology exercise in whole brain thinking. In investigating why our students have difficulty constructing proper graphs, we have discovered that graphing requires two…

This paper describes how gestures are used to enhance scaffolding that occurs in small group settings. Sixth and eighth grade students participated in an elective science course focused on earth science concepts with a substantial spatial visualization component. Gestures that students used in small group discussions were analyzed and four…

For the thirty-seventh year, the Research and Theory Division and the Division of Instructional Design of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) sponsored the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. This year's Proceedings…

For the thirty-seventh year, the Research and Theory Division and the Division of Instructional Design of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) sponsored the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. This year's Proceedings…

This document presents a demonstration of how drawing affects writing, how writing affects drawing, and how both affect the thinking process of students. The third grade students participating in the studies were selected on the basis of their prior performance in reading and mathematics and their identified potential for achievement. The students…

While advocates of guided imagery practice in the classroom fear most that inexperienced practitioners will abandon this effective means of developing metacognitive skills because students will not use imagery properly or because they themselves have not had the opportunity to learn guiding techniques from in-services or mentoring, the real threat…

Differences in readers' interpretations of a given text illustrate premises of the transactional or reader response theory of literature. The theory holds that: (1) meaning resides in the coming together of reader and text; (2) the reader affects the reading of the text and is affected by the text; and (3) there are potentially as many meanings to…

The meta analysis reported in this paper considers the implications of combined correlational evidence for the nature of the relationships of mathematical and spatial skills, and for the possibility that spatial skill underlies gender differences in favor of males on mathematical tasks. In all, 136 studies reported in 116 articles and…

Level of state test anxiety and depression were related to encoding strategy (imagery versus sematic instructions) in a study of sentence memory. Subjects were 80 female undergraduate students. Negative effects for test anxiety were found in both strategy conditions. Negative effects were found for depression when the semantic encoding strategy…