The quality of knowledge underlying students' algebraic thinking is a major concern of K-12 mathematics teaching and reform-driven curriculum documents. In this paper the author examines this issue by characterizing a group of high school students' algebraic knowledge and patterns of use of that knowledge during the solution of selected problems.…

The abacus is a calculating tool that has been used in Asia for thousands of years. Mental abacus calculation is a skill in which an abacus image in the mind is used without the actual physical manipulation of the abacus. Using this method, people can perform extremely rapid and accurate mental calculations. Research indicates that abacus training…

Over three decades ago, D'Zurilla and Goldfried (1971) published a seminal article delineating a model of problem-solving training geared to enhance social competence and decrease psychological distress. Since that time, a substantial amount of research has been conducted to test various hypotheses that this model has engendered. Much of this…

The study describes students' patterns of thinking for statistical problems set in two different contexts. Fifteen students representing a wide range of experiences with high school mathematics participated in problem-solving clinical interview sessions. At one point during the interviews, each solved a problem that involved determining the…

During individual interviews, secondary school mathematics teachers were asked to plan teaching an unfamiliar and challenging mathematics problem. Each teacher watched a special video-clip showing a pair of pupils successfully coping with the task. Teachers' planning was analyzed at three stages: before they solved the problem, after solving it,…

During the last years, development of open learning environments that support effectively their users has been a challenge for the research community of educational technologies. The open interactive nature of these environments results in users experiencing difficulties in coping with the plethora of available functions, especially during their…

This study deals with the demand of a task. A theoretical background shows the difficulty of applying the idea of demand (as established in the literature) to the data. This has been confirmed in the preliminary study of this paper, which deals with the analysis of university examinations. Some factors that affect the demand of a task have been…

The current paradigm in science education calls for greater emphasis on guiding students in active and extended scientific inquiry. This is supported by research suggesting that using a hands-on approach to learning fosters ownership in the learning process and allows students to gain greater appreciation for the design and implementation of…

Instructors teaching beginning programming classes are often interested in exercises that involve processing photographs (i.e., files stored as .jpeg). They may wish to offer activities such as color inversion, the color manipulation effects archived with pixel thresholding, or steganography, all of which Stevenson et al. [4] assert are sought by…

This experiment was designed to help students improve the critical thinking skills that are required to analyze and discuss the results of an organic chemistry experiment in an effective manner. The initial objective indicated in the prelab handout for this puzzle experiment was the synthesis of methyl 4-bromobenzoate using the Fischer…

Problem solving begins with problem identification. Conventional knowledge suggests that because patrol officers work specific geographical areas (beats) on a fairly constant basis, they come to see where the problems exist; thus, police experience alone can be relied on to identify crime problems. However, few have examined whether officers are…

This study investigated the score exchangeability of concept maps with problem-solving essays. Of interest was whether sixth-grade students' concept maps predicted their scores on essay responses that used concept map content. Concept maps were hypothesized to be alternatives to performance assessments for content-area domain knowledge in science.…

This article outlines six primary stages of a child's development. These basic functions show the way mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child learn to deal with the world. Helping a child through these stages and fostering these core capacities requires a…

In keeping with the scientific ideals and goals of actual practice, the concept of scientific literacy that drives the national science standards for elementary and middle school students also focuses on the process of science: observing, inferring, describing, asking questions, constructing explanations, and communicating ideas to others…

Creativity in education often takes the form of concentrated periods of arts-based "light relief" from the rigours of the National Curriculum. In psychology, on the other hand, creativity is often associated with a dramatic moment of "illumination" in solving scientific, mathematical or practical problems. This paper explores a third approach…