It is an established finding that spacing repetitions generally facilitates memory for the repeated events. However, the effect of spacing of exemplars on inductive learning is not really known. Two experiments using textual material were conducted to investigate the effect of spacing on induction. Experiment 1 and 2 extended the generality of…

Considerable evidence indicates that student motivation and use of learning strategies are related. There is insufficient understanding, however, about their reciprocal effects--whether motivation affects strategy use, the converse, or whether the effects are bidirectional--and which components of motivation and strategies are involved. A two-wave…

A series of experiments involving more than 40 mechanical engineers and engineering students with different levels of expertise examined strategies, competence, and style of the designers in problem-solving behavior. A model is proposed that explains differences in designing as an interaction of domain-specific and heuristic competence. (SLD)

In this study, 100 Italian eighth graders were divided into two groups to compare the effects of two instructional interventions--the first based on problem-solving through discussion, the second on individual problem-solving--on students' learning of two historical topics (World War I and the economic boom), interest and self-perception of…

This study investigated the role of different modes of representation, i.e., verbal description, decorative pictures, informational pictures and number line, in solving additive change problems. Data were collected from 1447 students in Grades 1, 2, and 3. Structural equations modelling affirmed the existence of four first-order…

The understanding of cause and effect situations is described in terms of the construction of a generative mental model and is exemplified through instances from science teaching. The absence of understanding is described in terms of failure of construction, reconstruction, or allied processes. (Author/SLD)

The implications of three concepts from cognitive science for understanding of cognitive development are reviewed. These are (1) learning (and induction), (2) analogy, and (3) capacity. A model of analogical reasoning is discussed that specifies changes in representations over age that explain phenomena previously thought to be stage-related. (SLD)

The articles of this issue argue that taking culture into consideration in research on learning can enhance understanding of a variety of phenomena related to learning. Discussion reinforces this position and further considers learning processes that are or are not determined by culture. (SLD)

Offers a commentary on five contributions to recent developments in the study of cognitive development that have been selected for this special issue. The relevance of each author's paper to issues that are central to cognitivists today and post-Piagetian developmental psychologists is discussed, and the overall need of evolutionary models to…

Word problems as used within the culture of mathematics education often promote a suspension of sense making by the students. In the papers in this issue, an alternative conceptualization of word problems is proposed that calls for mathematical modelling that takes real world knowledge into account. (SLD)

Two experiments involving 67 elementary school and 439 high school students show that students present solutions to many unsolvable problems without showing realistic reactions. Results are discussed with respect to the quality of word problems in teaching mathematics, the culture of teaching and learning, and the issue of social rationality in…

The seven articles of this theme issue bring together recent theoretical work in investigating the kind of conceptual change that occurs in the learning of the physical sciences. How conceptual change occurs and the implications for science instruction are considered. (SLD)

Besides phonotactic principles, orthographies entail graphotactic rules for which the reader must convert a phonological representation on the basis of spelling adaptation rules. In the present study, the learnability of such rules will be investigated with reference to Dutch. Although Dutch orthography can be considered highly regular, there are…

This issue contains articles on mathematical modeling of school arithmetic word problems; cognitive load theory; cognitive effects of practical experience for high and low achievers; perspectives of college-bound students on learning mathematics; and training-based assessment of school achievement. (SLD)