Research indicates that communication deficits are associated with development and maintenance of marital distress. Describes a behavioral premarital intervention program, based on these findings, designed to improve couples' future relationship satisfaction and communication patterns by enhancing communication and problem-solving skills.…

Reports that spatial ability was unrelated to formal reasoning task performance. Notes that sex differences occurred with balance tasks and pendulum tasks, suggesting male superiority at manifesting proportionality and isolating variables. (Author/RL)

Describes characteristics of successful problem solvers and reports programs at all educational levels designed to help students improve their skills. (Author/MLF)

Explains how the instrumental enrichment program helps adolescents and adults develop higher order thinking and problem-solving abilities. (Author/MLF)

Thirty-four educable mentally retarded young adults were given a one-bit logic problem (Experiment 1) or a test of conservation (Experiment 2) and classified as either low or high performers. In a second session, the low performers were paired with the high performers, and the dyads were required to agree on the solution to the problems presented.…

Two groups of mentally retarded children (MA: 4 to 8 years) were pretrained using two different methods. It was predicted that shift performance of the two groups trained to use different strategies would resemble those of two different developmental levels. (MP)

Revisionism and its impact on educational policy and its relation to history and historiography are discussed. History can be useful in understanding the extent to which policy and policymaking are influenced by inertia, the weight of established practice, familiar ideas, and traditional approaches to problem solving. (JMF)

Evaluates the Nominal Group Technique as a method for structuring a problem solving group's communication. The technique is evaluated in terms of its ability to produce more potential solutions to a problem than an interacting group and in terms of the perceived satisfaction of the participants. (JMF)

Finds support for the hypothesis that individuals who prefer a visualization strategy will obtain higher scores on the "Mental Rotation Test" than individuals who prefer an orientation strategy. (RL)

The article presents research reports on the nature of creativity, including such elements as its characteristics; the function of the affective gatekeeper (which filters the "reality" perceived by each individual); the constructs of perception; and the functions of role playing, altered states of consciousness, and fantasy. (PHR)

This study of the effectiveness of a multimedia course in plant anatomy shows a highly significant improvement in the capacity to answer final examination questions which involve problem solving, and a correlation between this improvement and the strategies used in small group teaching. Data, references, and notes are provided. (Author/JEG)

This study investigates performance differences between reflective and impulsive subjects on a recognition memory task. Results indicate that verbal recognition memory is sensitive to both cognitive style and presentation mode. (JMF)

Contains a handicapped teacher's personal reflections on the Equal Educational Assessibility laws and presents her solutions to some problems created by the laws. (FL)

The results of two experiments showed that five year olds can learn to solve class-inclusion problems if they are forced to consider the contradiction between their incorrect answers and their correct counting of the superordinate and subordinate classes. (JMB)

Research done with ten year olds on problem solving, generalization, and proof is outlined. (MK)