While existing studies have underscored the educational benefits of generating explanatory hypotheses (EHs) in response to unexpected outcomes, empirical research on the underlying mechanisms driving their effectiveness in science learning remains limited. Thus, this study aimed to empirically examine the effectiveness of generating an EH for…

Linguistic and non-linguistic pattern learning have been studied separately, but we argue for a comparative approach. Analogous inductive problems arise in phonological and visual pattern learning. Evidence from three experiments shows that human learners can solve them in analogous ways, and that human performance in both cases can be captured by…

Theories of relational concept acquisition (e.g., schema induction) based on structured intersection discovery predict that relational concepts with a probabilistic (i.e., family resemblance) structure ought to be extremely difficult to learn. We report four experiments testing this prediction by investigating conditions hypothesized to facilitate…

Asking children to gesture while being taught a concept facilitates their learning. Here, we investigated whether children benefitted equally from producing gestures that reflected speech (speech-gesture matches) versus gestures that complemented speech (speech-gesture mismatches), when learning the concept of palindromes. As in previous studies,…

Concept comprehension is an important foundation for more complex thoughts. To enhance concept comprehension, teachers of traditional classrooms have been using instructional strategies and specific course designs, which have been proven effective. It initiates a hypothesis that integrating instructional strategies in the course designs of an…

It is proposed that many phenomena of human hypothesis testing can be understood in terms of a general positive test strategy. With this strategy, there is a tendency to test cases that are expected to have the property of interest rather than those expected to lack that property. (Author/LMO)

This article explores relationships between designing and making in the work of children within the age range 5-11 when engaged in practical modelling tasks. The notion of the model is explored from the perspective of concrete representations. It is suggested that concrete models may be used as hypotheses from which to test ideas about the nature…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of hypothesis testing instructions compared to brief instructions on the speed of shift problem solution of grade school age subjects, in order to provide information on the development of hypothesis testing behavior in children and the sampling characteristics of hypothesis testing in these…

This study explores how an individual's cognitive style influences the development of a strategy in a concept identification task and how an individual tests his hypotheses in a concept learning set task. Subjects for the research were given the Hidden Figures Test as a means of identifying their cognitive styles. Half of the subjects were…

Two experiments were carried out in order to test the effects of task sequence on the speed of rule learning and problem solving. Experiment I involved numerical rule-learning tasks and Experiment II tested the effect of task difficulty and task precedence using problem-solving tasks. (Editor/RK)

Hypothesis behavior on three dimensional concept attainment problems was measured for 48 children (12 each at grades K, 2, 4, and 6). Every feedback trial was followed by a blank trial, a procedure that provided separate measures of Ss' ability to use hypotheses and test hypotheses. A S was considered to be "using" when his hypothesis inferred…

The three papers presented in this publication examine in depth the thought and practices that currently prevail in the specialized areas of reading and concept attainment. Two of the papers deal with concept learning and the transformation of this knowledge into instructional guidelines. The third paper considers the importance o f concept…

The three papers presented in this publication examines in depth the thought and practices that currently prevail in the specialized areas of reading and concept attainment. Two of the papers deal with concept learning and the transformation of this knowledge into instructional guidelines. The third paper considers the importance of concept…