Presents suggestions to help teachers who must work with difficult principals, offering 10 ideas for how to make meetings with such principals more effective. The paper also notes what to do if the principal is unreachable and describes how four teachers handled their own problems with difficult principals. (SM)

According to Group Embedded Figures Test scores for 82 preservice agriculture teachers, 60% were field independent and achieved higher microteaching lab scores and overall methods course grade. Field-independent students were more adapted to teaching with the problem-solving approach. Teacher educators should consider different learning styles and…

Defines instructional roles of dynamic visual displays (DVDs), including animation and interactive video, and provides guidelines for using them in media-based instruction. Topics addressed include theoretical bases; examples of strategic applications of DVDs; six instructional conditions for using DVDs; and considerations for the design and…

Computer-based clinical simulations used in medical education are designed according to decisions about which elements of reality to explicitly include, which to leave to imagination, and when to intervene for educational purposes. Programs offer many options for structuring the simulations, such as varying levels of volunteered information about…

Describes some preliminary results comparing two groups of children's performance on a set of Piagetian conservation tasks. Findings highlight the need to sensitize parents and teachers to current views on appropriate learning environments for young children, particularly the strategies they might use to make sense of their experiences. (TJQ)

Describes principles for constructing mathematics exercises that challenge students. Presents examples of good problems in differential equations. (MKR)

This article reviews common curricular alternatives for addressing the science education needs of secondary students with learning disabilities. A curriculum revision method emphasizing models and context-rich problem solving is proposed as an alternative to the traditional uses of direct instruction, mnemonics, graphic organizers, and study…

An educational psychologist visited a Japanese fifth-grade mathematics class that was discussing and solving the problem of how to divide two into three parts. Students learned to devise and describe methods for solving mathematics problems and to defend and explain their problem solving. American educators are adapting some methods that the…

Fourth-grade students (n=45) either with or without learning disabilities and achieving or not achieving at grade level in math were asked to explain strategies used to solve computational problems. Strategies were classified as reproductive or reconstructive (which varied in applicability and efficiency). Significant group differences were found.…

Demonstrates and compares three commercially available statistical software packages, Statistics Workshop, Data Insights, and Data Desk, using a five-component investigation model to analyze a problem about hat sizes. (MKR)

Describes a scheme designed to guide prospective teachers beyond the point of proficiency as a student solving given problems. Provides a mechanism whereby prospective teachers advance toward assuming the role of a teacher posing his or her own problems. (13 references) (Author/MKR)

Content analysis of 7 mathematics textbook series, grades 1-8, found that textbooks published after 1989 (when NCTM Standards were published) showed shifts of emphasis among content areas; changes in amount of content development, drill, word problems, and problem solving; and increased use of estimation and calculators. (13 references) (MKR)

Suggests that technical education programs can be made more appealing to academically capable students through the introduction of research and experimentation programs. (JOW)

Children are exposed to violence in media and everyday life, which may promote aggression as a means to solve problems. Skills and strategies of problem solving, conflict resolution, and peace making can be learned through well-organized and frequent exposure to literature. Books that deal with misunderstanding, jealousy, playground skirmishes,…

Compared the sensitivity and teaching strategies of white, middle-class dysphoric and nondysphoric women working with unfamiliar five- and six-year olds during classification tasks and unstructured activities. Found that nondysphoric women were more sensitive to children's level of understanding than dysphoric women and were more likely to use a…