Past research indicates poor agreement about strategies people use to assess covariation between events. This research investigates method of assessment as one possible source of this low consensus. A set of problems was developed in such a way that different judgment rules would produce different decisions about the relationships between events.…

Four strategies used in judgment patterns were explored. Problem sets in which each solution strategy produces a unique solution pattern are depicted. Several experiments had been conducted using rules in this way with subjects from grade 4 through college. Problems were set in the context of concrete events which could be related, and subjects…

Findings from five related studies carried out in Tasmania, Australia in 1979-80 are summarized. The first study attempted to determine the memory capacity of a cross-sectional population of children aged 4-7, while the second study was designed to portray differences on a variety of mathematically related developmental tasks for the same…

The media production department of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) began quality circle meetings in January 1981 after studying the process of quality circles and obtaining the understanding and support of the college administration. A quality circle is a small group of people doing similar work who voluntarily meet on a regular basis to…

The primary task in solving a physics problem is to select ways of viewing the problem in terms of physical systems whose behavior is described by physical laws. The physical systems are, in general, only approximate models of the real-world systems. As models of real-world systems are made more accurate, the equations involved quickly become…

Latin American countries have a long history in the application of educational technology to the improvement of teacher education. Even though past innovations, such as the Multinational Project on Educational Technology have been successful, there are still problems with the quality of teacher education. Apparently, processes have been improved…

Six tips for increasing student problem-solving skills are offered in this teacher fact sheet. Puzzles and simulations matched to student mental maturity and general knowledge are recommended as activities for helping students think more flexibly and practice higher order thinking skills. In addition, four suggestions are given for controlling…

This volume is an exposition of a mathematical modeling technique for use in the evaluation and solution of complex educational problems at all levels. It explores in detail the application of simple algebraic techniques to such issues as program reduction, fiscal rollbacks, and computer curriculum planning. Part I ("Introduction to the…

Several definitions of career exploration are discussed in the article, and an interpretation is offered for the middle/junior high school level: student exploratory behaviors in regard to self and occupational concepts are best denoted by their inclusion of problem-solving or hypothesis testing. (Author/AJ)

For decades, every chemical engineer has been asked to have a background in separations. The required separations course can, however, be uninspiring and superficial because understanding many separation processes involves conventional graphical methods and commercial process simulators. We utilize simple, user-­friendly mathematical software,…

The literature on coping with stressful life events and the literature on parental issues related to the birth of a handicapped child suggest that such variables as understanding of the nature, intensity, and duration of parental responses figure prominently in their adjustment to the disability. The development of support programs designed to…

The hypothesis for this study assumed that subjects who received a diagram representing the structural relationships of a story would be more likely to solve a new and analogous problem than subjects who received two analogs without a diagram. The 151 graduate students who acted as subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: one or…

An understanding-based approach to teaching arithmetic word problems is used in the Training Arithmetic Problem Solving Skills (TAPS) research project, for which four semantic schemas or problem representations have been revised and adopted: Combine, Compare, Change, and Vary. It is hypothesized that a good problem solver identifies the schema of…

The instructional media created by microcomputers interconnected by modems to form long-distance networks present some powerful new opportunities for education. While other uses of computers in education have been built on conventional instructional models of classroom interaction, instructional electronic networks facilitate a wider use of…

A number of recent reports have called for increased teaching of "problem solving" and "critical thinking," particularly at the elementary level. This paper provides descriptive and evaluative data on a 9-month inservice program in mathematics for 89 elementary school teachers and 6 elementary school principals from 22 different schools. The…