Describes grade-appropriate weekly activities designed to appeal directly to students by giving them open-ended questions. Activities may be worked on individually, in pairs, or in small groups. This particular set of activities focuses on stories from literature involving measurement, earning money, marketing a product, and setting up a…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TWOFOLD--(1) TO FIND WHAT LOGICAL HABITS AND ABILITIES POSSESSED BY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WERE DEMONSTRATED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF COMPOSITIONAL TASKS, AND (2) TO COMPARE THE WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WHO HAD STUDIED UNDER THE NEBRASKA CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT CENTER'S LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM…

It is generally conceded that there is much for a child to learn while attending nursery school, but the teacher is often unsure as to what type of curriculum or program will best assure such learning. Specifically, although play has been part of all nursery school programs, it is questioned whether spontaneous play (that is, relatively…

A course focusing on the socially impoverished is presented. Its goals are: (1) to help the student develop an understanding of the impoverished in terms of current sociological theories and to relate theory to problem solutions, (2) to help the student develop an affective appreciation of impoverishment, and (3) to help the student to develop…

Explains cognitive basis for change in science paradigms using Watson-Crick DNA model to illustrate concepts of "normal" versus "revolutionary" science. Examines these concepts in light of teacher preception of science, and discusses implications for the practice of science education. (JM)

Presents an alternate form of assignment, called "Special Problems," that incorporates writing in journals into the mathematics classroom. The method requires students to provide process narratives to accompany selected homework exercises. Allows the teacher to monitor the student's thought processes and development. (MDH)

The game "Pythagoras" is an adaptation of the tangram puzzle. Describes the process of finding all the possible convex polygons with seven sides to prove that the solution to a given puzzle shape of seven sides difficult to find was not possible. (MDH)

Eight papers which discuss rational and nonrational modes of knowing and consciousness and their relevance to educational practice are presented. Richard Jones in "Looking Back and Forth on Consciousness" considers two modes, the rational and the metaphoric, in a discussion of dreams. Alfred Kuhn discusses random variation and selective retention…

A CONCEPT ATTAINMENT TASK IN WHICH CHILDREN ARE ASKED TO IDENTIFY A CONCEPT THROUGH DETERMINING WHICH OF A SET OF OBJECTS ARE OR ARE NOT INSTANCES OF IT WAS USED TO INVESTIGATE THEIR PROBLEM-SOLVING BEHAVIOR. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST WAS THE QUESTION OF TO WHAT EXTENT THEY USED OR LEARNED THE STRATEGY OF VARYING ONE FACTOR WHILE HOLDING ALL OTHERS…

Focusing on how expert writers in various disciplines convey complex ideas, this paper shows how the techniques used by the mathematician, Clark Kimberling, in various writings can (1) be transferred to other disciplines, (2) show learning taking place, and (3) provide models for students to re-enact learning in all subject areas. The paper…

Museum objects can be the springboard for exercising critical thinking. There are four main thought processes associated with critical thinking: (1) fluent thinking, the ability to produce many ideas; (2) flexible thinking, the ability to view something in different ways; (3) original thinking, the ability to produce unique ideas; and (4)…

Describes three activities that the teacher can employ to help students develop thinking skills through mathematics instruction: (1) memorization using the technique of chunking; (2) higher order thinking with magic squares; and (3) predicting games. Identifies eight facets of the teacher's role in promoting thinking skills. (MDH)

One of the key reasons that multimedia, and particularly hypertext systems, are gaining in importance is that they inspire hopes of optimizing learners' processes of knowledge construction. The present study is concerned with the respective influence of individual learner variables (i.e. particularly domain-specific prior knowledge) on the use of…

AN INQUIRY (SPECIFIC DISCOVERY) APPROACH TO LEARNING WAS SUBJECTED TO A RIGOROUS TEST AND EVALUATION PROGRAM, INVOLVING ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. STUDENTS IN THE FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADES SERVED AS SUBJECTS. EVALUATIVE CRITERIA WERE (1) SCIENCE CONCEPT ACHIEVEMENT, (2) DIVERGENT THINKING OR CREATIVITY, AND (3)…

A review of the literature in science education shows that most students have difficulties in hypothetico-deductive reasoning. The author's objective in this study was to investigate the abilities of high school teachers and university teachers to understand the difference between the terms "hypothesis" and "prediction" in the…