The author argues that Instructional Design (ID) is a problem-solving process, not a procedure, made up of a thinking process common to designers in many fields, and a set of well-accepted, underlying ID principles. This article presents a model of those principles. Further, it argues that teaching ID as a well-structured procedure is not helpful…

It is not often that one can introduce primary school students to a problem at the forefront of mathematics research, and have any expectation of understanding; but with magic squares, one can do exactly that. Magic squares are an ideal tool for the effective illustration of many mathematical concepts. This paper assumes little prior knowledge on…

Each year, students in Kittanning Senior High School's Principles of Technology (POT) classes have a design challenge, usually beginning with CO2-powered or Maglev-powered vehicles and progressing to such challenges as soap-box cars or radio-controlled airplanes. The author's recent POT class challenged them with the most exciting challenge yet:…

Instruction on problem solving in particular domains typically relies on explanations from experts about their strategies. However, research indicates that such self-reports often are incomplete or inaccurate (e.g., Chao & Salvendy, 1994; Cooke & Breedin, 1994). This article evaluates research on experts' cognition, the accuracy of experts'…

School psychologists have expertise in the realm of school-based assessment and intervention for behavioral, educational, and psychological difficulties. Recent evidence indicates that many school psychologists lack evidenced based knowledge about assessment and treatment of pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Pediatric OCD is a…

Within the framework of MIT's course 1.00: Introduction to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving, this paper describes an innovative project entitled: "Studio 1.00" that integrates lectures with in-class demonstrations, active learning sessions, and on-task feedback, through the use of wireless laptop computers. This paper also describes a…

The perspective of situated learning offers a theoretical framework for understanding the dialectical relations between the social and the individual dimensions of classroom microculture. The purpose of this article is to show how sociomathematical norms constructed during whole-class discussions provide a reference for the elaboration of…

This paper introduces various visual models for the analysis and description of learning processes. The models analyse learning on two levels: the dynamic level (as a process over time) and the functional level. Two types of model for dynamic modelling are proposed: the session trace, which documents a specific learner in a particular learning…

This article offers an engaging application that adds meaning to the binomial theorem. (Contains 8 figures.)

Based on a synthesis of the literature in inductive reasoning, a framework for prescribing and assessing mathematics inductive reasoning of primary school students was formulated and validated. The major constructs incorporated in this framework were students' cognitive abilities of finding similarities and/or dissimilarities among attributes and…

These experiments explored the role of prior experience in 12- to 18-month-old infants' tool-directed actions. In Experiment 1, infants' use of a familiar tool (spoon) to accomplish a novel task (turning on lights inside a box) was examined. Infants tended to grasp the spoon by its handle even when doing so made solving the task impossible (the…

Fjellstedt and Sulzer-Azaroff (1973) used differential reinforcement of short latencies to decrease a child's latency to comply with instructions. We replicated this contingency with a young man diagnosed with Asperger syndrome across two tasks (question answering and math problem solving). We added a differential reinforcement contingency to…

This paper deals with the different aspects of solving technical problems. To solve a technical problem in an optimal way it is not enough to consider the appropriate technical and technological principles, the different organizational, economical, and ergonomical principles must also be taken into account. The didactic aspects of solving…

"Exploring" is a magazine of science, art, and human perception, produced by Exploratorium in collaboration with other participating museums. This issue focuses on puzzles and problem solving. Brain teasers, puzzles, and the strategies for solving them are included. Features include: (1) "Homework Assignment #3" (Paul Doherty);…

This study investigated gender differences in preschoolers' problem solving. Ten boys and 10 girls from the same preschool class with a median age of 4 years 1 month from multicultural middle class families participated. Children were presented with a separate novel form board puzzle designed for young children each day for 3 days in a…