Presents results of a qualitative study of problem solving in the domain of instructional design. Novice and expert instructional designers worked on a "think aloud" design task, and their instruction protocols were analyzed for problem-solving processes. Analysis revealed that experts and novices used divergent design models and…

Discusses cognitive processes associated with mental rotation and procedures for presenting and learning orthographic projection. Descriptions include a series of three experiments generated by cognitive load theory that investigated the effects of worked example formats on high school students using two- and three-dimensional representations. (19…

Outlines two theories of cognitive science that are relevant for instructional design, i.e., schema theory and cognitive load theory; and describes four experiments with Australian secondary school geography students that used these theories to examine the effects of splitting attention between technical illustrations and related text. (20…

This discussion of information structures in written texts describes how linguistic analysis of short published reports leads to the presentation of an algorithm that depicts the problem-solving process in terms of a series of evaluative questions. (Author/CHC)

Two major currents of reflection on education exist in the Francophone world. The first, "didactique"--didactics--relates to teacher planning, working chiefly from considerations about the pupil's cognitive characteristics. The second, "pedagogie"--pedagogy--relates to the features of pedagogical reflection-in-action. The…

Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE) is a database system in which learners collaboratively construct the knowledge represented in the database. This study examines how students in a grade-five and -six classroom built their database on a science topic, electricity. Differences in cognitive and operative activities between…

Examines contextual differences in student motivation and self-regulated learning in seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics, social studies, and English. Results revealed differences by subject area and gender in motivation and cognitive strategy use variables, but not in regulatory strategy use or academic performance; relations among these…