Pretend play is often hypothesized in a global sense to be an effective context for young children's learning, but there is much still to learn about whether all types of information can be learned equally and whether all types of pretend play are equally beneficial. The present study tests whether preschoolers can learn a simple, novel causal…

Cognitive development of eighth-grade students, as identified by Jean Piaget, occurs during a time when many of them are transitioning between concrete operations and formal operations where the ability to think in abstract concepts becomes possible. Because of this period of transition, many eighth-grade students find difficulty in demonstrating…

To promote learning and transfer of abstract ideas, contemporary theories advocate that teachers and learners make explicit connections between concrete representations and the abstract ideas they are intended to represent. "Concreteness fading" is a theory of instruction that offers a solution for making these connections. As originally…

Formal climate education without consideration of the ocean is incomplete. The effectiveness of a new climate lesson for youth that includes the ocean-climate nexus was examined by delivering the lesson to nine classes situated in separate British Columbia, Canada public schools and assessing the students' understanding of basic climate concepts…

A digital instructional game with embedded multimedia was believed not limited to allowing the learner to visualize chemistry concepts while playing but enable them to collect relevant information that connects the understanding of the other. The subject was described as a core science area with multiple macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic…

Our paper builds on the construct of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky in Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978) to analyze the relationship between students' answers and the help they receive as they construct them. We report on a secondary analysis of…

This study aimed to determine whether taking a chronological approach (CA) or topical approach (TA) to teaching developmental psychology resulted in different learning outcomes. Across two semesters, in four classes, 354 students participated (M[subscript age] = 19.76, SD[subscript age] = 2.93 years), 66% identifying as female. One instructor…

The Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) was used to gauge the relative effectiveness of three different methods of pedagogy, "Reading, Presenting, and Questioning" (RPQ), "Experimenting and Discussion" (ED), and "Traditional Methods" (TM), on increasing students' level of scientific thinking. The…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Computer-Assisted Instruction designed according to 7E model of constructivist learning(CAI7E) related to "electrostatic'' topic on physics student teachers' cognitive development, misconceptions, self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes. The study was conducted in 2006-2007…

Effective teaching should focus on representational change, which is fundamental to learning and education, rather than conceptual change, which involves transformation of theories in science rather than the gradual building of knowledge that occurs in students. This article addresses the question about how to develop more efficient strategies for…

The study, with 57 children (ages 3-6) enrolled in 3 Head Start classes, demonstrated that short-term, large-group basic concept instruction combining direct instruction with interactive and incidental teaching techniques resulted in significantly improved scores on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-Revised. (Author/DB)

Describes an approach to teaching complex models in science that uses a model construction cycle of generation, evaluation, and modification. Reports on a case study of a student in a tutoring experiment in the study of electric circuits. Focuses on the role of analogies, discrepant events, and the student's moments of surprise as motivators of…

Eighteen children (mean age 10.2 years) with mild mental retardation were pretested on a variety of measures and then instructed on Piagetian concepts twice per week for 4 months via a learning set technique. When posttested at semester's end, the children had, with few exceptions, mastered the concepts and made significant gains on the Peabody…

Describes a study that compared the effects of microworld microcomputer training and real world training on sorting behaviors of 2- and 3-year-olds. Discussion of the relationship between cognitive development and the ability to process microworld training focuses on different reactions between the two age groups. (42 references) (CLB)

A training experiment with 22 retarded children (IQs from 34 to 74) found that training on a general magnitude comparison rule for numbers 1-10 resulted in experimental subjects significantly outperforming control subjects on both immediate and delayed posttests with some evidence of transfer of training. (Author/DB)