Like never before, today's classroom teachers routinely are being asked to collaboratively analyze student data, develop or implement new mandated curricula, and assess the effectiveness of these innovations. Ironically, few preservice preparatory or in-service professional development programs actively train classroom instructors in the use of…

Helping students to improve their problems solving skills is the primary target of science teacher trainees. In modern science, for training the students, methods should be used for improving their thinking skills, making connections with events and concepts and scientific operations skills rather than information and definition giving. One of…

This paper discusses a chemistry lesson plan on potato crisps for 10th grade (age range 15-16) chemistry classes in Germany. The lesson plan focuses on the discussion about low-fat and low-carb diets as they are presented in everyday media such as TV or newspapers in Germany. The discussion follows a socio-critical and problem-oriented approach to…

School attendance is an ongoing concern for administrators, particularly in middle-level and high school. Frequent absences affect student learning, test scores, and social development. Administrators who understand the causes of school refusal behavior and are aware of effective intervention strategies can help provide supportive school…

The transportation field has for many years been dominated by engineers and other technical specialists. This article describes the Sustainable Mobility Learning Lab (SMLL), a Web-based tool designed to support classroom and university outreach activities to help initiate a more inclusive, nontechnical discussion about the role of transportation…

Relations among past maternal depressive disorder, current depressive symptoms, current maternal interaction behaviors, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 204 women and their young adolescent offspring (mean age = 11.86, SD = 0.55). Mothers either had (n = 157) or had not (n = 57) experienced at least one depressive disorder…

This article presents a study in which applications were integrated in the Multivariable Calculus course at the Technion in the framework of supplementary tutorials. The purpose of the study was to test the opportunity of extending the conventional curriculum by optional applied problem-solving activities and get initial evidence on the possible…

This article presents an instructional approach to constructing discovery-oriented activities. The cornerstone of the approach is a systematically asked question "If a mathematical statement under consideration is plausible, but wrong anyway, how can one fix it?" or, in brief, "If not, what yes?" The approach is illustrated with examples from…

Purpose: We compared a primary-care-based psychotherapy, that is, problem-solving therapy for primary care (PST-PC), to community-based psychotherapy in treating late-life major depression and dysthymia. Design and Methods: The data here are from the IMPACT study, which compared collaborative care within a primary care clinic to care as usual in…

This study investigates the hypothesis that students' learning and problem-solving performance in ill-structured domains can be improved, if elaborative question prompts are used to activate students' context-generating cognitive processes, during case study. Two groups of students used a web-based learning environment to criss-cross and study…

Learning to question is essential for determining pathways of conservation and development in southwestern Amazonia during a time of rapid global environmental change. Teaching such an approach in graduate science programs in regional universities can be done using play-acting and simulation exercises. Multiple working hypotheses help students…

This study investigates algebraic reasoning and self-regulation skills among elementary school teachers who participated in a professional development program either with IMPROVE metacognitive questioning (PD + Meta) or with no metacognitive guidance (PD). Sixty-four Israeli teachers participated in a 3-year program designed to enhance…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to model the relationship between student performance, student attitudes, and computer laboratory environments. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 234 college students enrolled in courses that involved the use of a computer to solve problems and provided the laboratory experience by means of…

In this outcomes study (N=40), changes in stress levels were compared across two participant conditions for a period of artistic activity with a cognitive focus on either a personally stressful or positive situation. Results indicated that participants in the positive-focus condition demonstrated a significant decrease in stress, whereas…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is widely used by chemists. Furthermore, the use of NMR spectroscopy to solve structures of macromolecules or to examine protein-ligand interactions is popular. Yet, few students entering graduate education in biological sciences have been introduced to this method or its utility. Over the last six…