Investigates three gender pairs of preschool and elementary school childrens' task solving using floor and screen versions of the Logo turtle. The study provides insights on the strategies and interactions of young children in a novel problem-solving context. It reveals gender differences showing that, although girls take more time and make more…

Studied frequency and style of help-seeking in 18- and 24-month olds observed at free play and problem-solving. Found that younger toddlers sought less help than older toddlers; both groups sought more help during problem solving than in free play. Older toddlers increased vocal help-seeking whereas younger toddlers sought help through vocal and…

The mother, father, and adolescent siblings from 675 families were observed interacting in problem-solving sessions. Siblings were monozygotic twins, dyzygotic twins, or full siblings in nondivorced families and full, half, and unrelated siblings in stepfamilies. Results suggested a greater genetic component to adolescent behavior than to parent…

Examines how ancient Chinese mathematicians attempted to correct an error concerning the volume of a sphere in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, a compendium of the mathematics known and used in China in ancient times. (MKR)

Teachers (n=199) from various school levels completed a questionnaire aimed at determining the types of knowledge teachers use in instructional problem solving. Results show higher use of personal/practical pedagogical knowledge compared with formative or normative knowledge, and suggest an interaction between the type of knowledge used and school…

Presents a variety of problems, involving kinematics and dynamics, that deal with ropes and their centers of mass. (JRH)

Discusses and illustrates the difference between traditional and creative problem solving. (MKR)

Discusses Project MATH: Good Beginnings, a staff development project for teachers in grades K-3. The staff of the program models teaching strategies used in a problem-driven curriculum that encourages student engagement. (MKR)

Examines the relation of coping to adherence among 57 hemodialysis patients. As predicted, coping efforts involving planful problem solving were associated with more favorable adherence when used in response to stressors involving a relatively controllable aspect of the hemodialysis context. For less controllable stressors, coping efforts…

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Discusses the overall conveyed message: The human cognitive system is a thematically organized knowledge base with agentive causality as the main mechanism for explain phenomena and analogy as the main mechanism for promoting conceptual…

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Suggests that different approaches to knowledge acquisition and conceptual change should be carefully examined in light of their implications for the teaching of science. Discusses critically the issues advanced from the Japanese…

Using play learning and real-world problem solving, an alternative Arizona program is cultivating confidence and love of learning in bilingual first-graders. Children learn by using their own language (Spanish), learning styles, and thought processes. Besides problem-solving, the "cube train" teaches estimation, number relationships,…

Clinical applications of statistical process control (SPC) in human service organizations are considered. SPC is seen as providing a standard set of criteria that serves as a common interface for data-based decision making, which may bring decision making under the control of established contingencies rather than the immediate contingencies of…

The influence of reading comprehension level on solving verbally expressed arithmetic problems was studied with 12 students (ages 8 to 12) who were prelingually and profoundly deaf. Reading comprehension level was related to students' problem-solving level. Verbal arithmetic problems contained linguistic forms that were difficult for deaf…

Provides six short story problems that are solved using common physics concepts. Includes solutions. (MVL)