The author responds to the recent work of Kaminski, Sloutsky, and Heckler (2008) and advances two major concerns about their research and its applicability to learning mathematics: a confounding variable that arises from the mathematical differences between the generic examples and concrete examples poses a threat to the construct validity of the…

Comments on this issue's article by Ward, Vela, and Hass on children's category learning. Suggests that aspects of the authors' methodology may have led them to underestimate holistic processing. (PCB)

Discusses changes in ideas about learning underlying reforms in science education. Highlights experiences with project-based science, which focuses on student-designed inquiry organized by investigations to answer driving questions, including collaboration among learners, new technology, and the creation of authentic artifacts that represent…

Discusses difficulties of learning and teaching science at the secondary school level. Highlights include the nature of science concepts; multilevel thought; the use of scientific experiments; language problems; students' learning processes; and an information processing model that can be used to guide thinking and research in this area. (10…

Recent discoveries about the whole brain seem to call for a holistic approach to learning, one in which educators would teach the whole person, including physical and emotional states as well as cognitive abilities. Three holistic techniques are particularly relevant to education: (1) biofeedback; (2) yoga; and (3) the Lozanov method. Biofeedback…

The paper discusses the use of music-based experiments to illuminate teachers' understanding of their own and pupils' informal ways of learning. The major objective of the paper is to help teachers understand students' learning processes. Because one central problem in academic research is that of finding the right questions, researchers should…

Discusses some of the difficulties involved with chemistry laboratory experiences and some laboratory manuals. Cites studies that indicate that part of the difficulty can be attributed to constraints relating to the short-term memory of the operational information and the assumption that students have a certain level of knowledge. (TW)

Argues that cookbook chemistry laboratory experiments do little to teach scientific inquiry. Suggests providing students with laboratory experiences that follow the introduction of a concept and challenge students to investigate that concept through an experiment involving very few initial instructions. Lists some such challenges used in chemistry…

Advocates the use of discovery or guided inquiry experiments for developing critical thinking in problem solving. Provides a stepwise method for creating inquiry experiments and provides an example by comparing the two methods for a freezing point experiment. (JM)