Learning in natural environments is often characterized by a degree of inconsistency from an input. These inconsistencies occur, for example, when learning from more than one source, or when the presence of environmental noise distorts incoming information; as a result, the task faced by the learner becomes ambiguous. In this study, we investigate…

The effect of symbolic form model on students' interest in logic content of the mathematics curriculum was investigated in this study. The research was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. The study used a quasi-experimental design. The population of this research was 2,342 SS2 learners in Enugu State, Nigeria. A sample of 172…

The paper presents education as a process of human development toward becoming our authentic Selves and posits the Tarot hermeneutic as one of the means of holistic, spiritual education. As a system of images and symbols, Tarot encompasses the three I's represented by intuition, insight and imagination in contrast to the three R's of traditional…

This article used two studies to investigate sign and symbol mediation in children aged 8-11 years. In role play, children exist at one at the same time in objective reality and their representation of reality. We cannot observe their mental representation directly, but the issue of whether signs or symbols mediate early role play is an important…

The present research examines the ability of children as young as 4 years to use models in tasks that require scaling of distance along a single dimension. In Experiment 1, we found that tasks involving models are similar in difficulty to those involving maps that we studied earlier (Huttenlocher, J., Newcombe, N., & Vasilyeva, M. (1999). Spatial…

Refines the basic entity model of information theory and extends it to analyze mathematically the physical symbol transformation characteristics, as well as energy-matter and cognition phenomena occurring in the human mind. Reviews existing theories; examines physical symbol subsystem, cognitive perspective, energy-matter subsystem; and discusses…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional procedure called "aided language modeling" (ALM) on symbol comprehension and expression in 2 preschool children with autism who used few words functionally. ALM consists of engaging the child in interactive play activities and providing models of use of…

Challenges Smolensky's theory that human intuitive/nonconscious cognitive processes can only be accurately explained in terms of subsymbolic computations in artificial neural networks. Symbolic learning models of two cognitive tasks involving nonconscious acquisition of information are presented: learning production rules and artificial finite…

Research on young children and their understanding and use of models indicates that they have particular difficulty understanding and using symbols that are in themselves interesting objects (have dual representation). Implications for the use of symbols for educational purposes are discussed, reviewing several commonly used symbolic objects. (SLD)

A new field of children's learning is emerging. This new field differs from the old in recognizing that children's learning includes active as well as passive mechanisms and qualitative as well as quantitative changes. Children's learning involves substantial variability of representations and strategies within individual children as well as…

Discusses the need for a sustained and systematic effort toward establishing a theoretical framework for educational simulations, proposes the adaptation of models borrowed from the natural and applied sciences, and describes three simulations based on such a model adapted using Brunerian learning theory. Sixteen references are listed. (LLS)

Discussion about the nature and varieties of mathematical understanding is presented. Symbolic understanding is defined as a mutual assimilation between a symbol system and a conceptual structure, that is dominated by the conceptual structure. (MP)

Infants' understanding of "toy model-real exemplar" relations was assessed through preferential looking and habituation tasks. Results from the preferential looking task suggest that 18-month toddlers are just beginning to demonstrate comprehension of symbolic relations between iconic models and their real object counterparts. Performance of 10-…

Reviews approaches to machine learning (development of techniques to automate acquisition of new information, skills, and ways of organizing existing information) in symbolic domains. Four categorical tasks addressed in machine learning literature are examined: learning from examples, learning search heuristics, learning by observation, and…

Discusses several philosophies of linguistics and semiotics that debate the importance of words and their relationship to signs, language as the primary modeling system, and the historical primacy of verbal versus visual communication. Describes human communication as both language-based and nonverbal, both aspects inviting arbitrary and abstract…