Studies whether Piagetian reasoning, general intelligence and achievement motive tap different mental structures, and the relative importance of these measures for concept attainment in physics. Concepts chosen for the study were force, couple, total internal reflection and atom. Results indicate that proportional reasoning, combinatorial…

This study was designed to theoretically articulate and empirically assess the role of computer scaffolds. In this project, several examples of educational software were developed to scaffold the learning of students performing high level cognitive activities. The software used in this study, Artemis, focused on scaffolding the learning of…

Describes an analysis of test items used to measure the science process skills of 11-year-olds in Great Britain. Concludes that the level of cognitive demand was a reliable predictor of the difficulty of an item. (TW)