We share ideas for preparing for and enacting high-cognitive demand tasks in ways that support students in articulating and justifying their ideas. We offer strategies for developing and posing several types of purposeful questions: (1) eliciting thinking, (2) generating ideas, (3) clarifying explanations, and (4) justifying claims.

How do engineering students approach mathematical modelling problems and how can they learn to deal with such problems? In the context of a course in mathematical modelling and problem solving, and using a qualitative case study approach, we found that the students had little prior experience of mathematical modelling. They were also inexperienced…

The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of play through the eyes of talented and gifted (TAG) fifth- and sixth-grade students. Three focus groups consisting of fifth- and sixth-grade TAG students were conducted in one urban, one suburban, and one rural school district in the Midwest. Students were asked to describe the value of play…

A majority of studies on learning disabilities have focused on elementary grades. Although problems with learning disabilities are life-affecting only a few studies focus on deficits in adults. In this study adults with isolated mathematical disabilities (n = 101) and adults with combined mathematical and reading disabilities (n = 130) solved…

Results of a systematic investigation into university students' (n=236) misunderstandings of d.c. simple circuit operations are reported. These results provide evidence of various misconceptions present before and after teaching the following topics: a battery as a source of constant current; the functional relation expressed by Ohm's law; power…

This study sought to determine the basis for young children's understanding of fundamental addition and subtraction processes, and to expose any limitations on such arithmetic reasoning. Thirty-six two-year-olds and 36 three-year-olds participated in six experiments which examined children's relational quantity judgments about pairs of arrays in…

This book shows how to increase one's power to analyze and comprehend problems. First, it outlines and illustrates the methods that good problem solvers use in attacking complex ideas. Then it gives some practice in applying these methods to a variety of questions in comprehension and reasoning. Chapters include: (1) "Test Your Mind--See How…

In this project, a plan for solving word problems based on the students' level of development was developed. A 10-week implementation of a plan for solving word problems at the concrete level of development included the use of a flow chart or plan to map out and solve word problems. Students then used the flow chart and manipulatives to develop…

The document provides the revised curriculum guide for Project SOCRATES, a program designed for academically gifted students in grades 4 and 5. The guide is organized according to the project's four goal areas: development of creative thinking, for casting, reasoning, and planning and decision making. Under each goal are listed objectives and…

Discusses the importance of teacher intervention in the use of Logo in elementary and junior high schools, emphasizing a process-oriented approach to teaching. The use of worksheets, questioning techniques, and providing a socially reflective and interactive environment are described, and a checklist to see if criteria are being successfully met…

This report documents a program for improving science knowledge, attitudes, and higher order thinking skills through experiential science. The hands-on approach used successfully in the program is described, and evidence of student improvement is also presented. The targeted population consisted of students in the first, third, and fourth grades…

Critical pedagogy, an ideology which opposes education as domination, views knowledge and learning as constructed by the student and teacher together. Its goal is personal and social emancipation and empowerment. The purposes of this paper are to (1) indicate problems in science education which can be addressed by teaching science from a critical,…

Researchers from BBN Laboratories and Lesley College (Massachusetts) have begun exploratory studies to build an understanding of the learning that occurs when middle school students interact with science-based simulations. Sixty hours of discussion among eight middle school students were videotaped as they used the simulations from the…

This practicum was designed to solve a problem related to the provision of a computer training component for students enrolled in an early childhood education teacher training program. Increasing pressures on graduates of the training program to integrate computers and educational software into programs for young children as well as the students'…

One of 10 reports in a longitudinal study of Project Head Start submitted by NTS Research Corporation to the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, this document presents the individual testing battery used for the fall 1979 cohort. The first chapter identifies the skill areas to be tested in an analysis of Project Head Start's…