This paper presents a cognitive theoretical framework for the learning of mathematics which has generic implications for other disciplines. The framework has been developed using a combination of established theories about learning and the authors' research into the understanding of some specific types of learning. It is based on the integration…

This paper presents two puzzles that have emerged in a series of completed and ongoing studies at Queen's University, Ontario. These puzzles concern teachers' professional knowledge, a term used to refer to the non-propositional forms of knowledge assumed to be of importance to professional action. This research assumed that the professional…

Examines the differences between concrete and abstract concepts and their implications for instructional design and teaching. How specific concepts are stored in and retrieved from memory is described, analogies are discussed as an instructional tool in abstract concept learning, and a possible instructional strategy for teaching abstract concepts…

This article addresses the close relationship between reasoning skills and literacy, especially in the context of the education of students with deafness. The importance of providing deaf learners with cognitive strategy instruction applied to various aspects of literacy is stressed. (DB)

This discussion of fostering recall and developing reasoning processes in students with mild disabilities considers the role of mnemonic strategies, similarities between mnemonic strategies and elaborative interrogation to facilitate information retrieval, constructivism and elaborative interrogation, and such problems as generalization and…

In this interview, author Art Costa asserts that the teaching of either content or thinking skills in isolation is unproductive. To combine these approaches, he recommends selecting content for its relationship to thought processes. He also observes that administrators who model intelligent behavior thereby create a climate for thinking. (TE)

The importance of instructing gifted students in correlational reasoning is emphasized, with attention to what the skill involves and why it is difficult to learn; effective teaching strategies; and successful programs in whole-class, cooperative-learning, and computer formats. Implications in programming for gifted students are discussed. (SW)

Beginning geometry students misunderstand the requirements of formal proof because of confusion between deductive reasoning and argumentation. Presented is a cognitive analysis of deductive organization versus argumentative organization of reasoning and the applications of this analysis to learning. Implications of a study analyzing students'…

Discussed are some situations students face that result in cognitive conflict, possible sources of these conflicts, and strategies which students use to resolve, remove, or circumvent them. A global account for observed systematic errors is offered based on a general problem-solving rule called the "Matching Rule." (KR)

Based on the idea that journal writing can help students discover gaps in their knowledge and explore relationships by allowing them to reflect on what they have learned, a study examined the usefulness of expressive journal writing in a first grade mathematics program. Subjects, members of a first grade classroom involved in a…