Investigation of children's understanding of the earth can reveal much about the origins and development of scientific knowledge. Vosniadou and Brewer (1992) claim that children construct coherent, theory-like mental models of the earth. However, more recent research has indicated that children's knowledge of the earth is fragmented and…

This study was concerned with assessing knowledge of concept interrelationships. Comparisons were made between performance on the concept comparison task (making a comparative judgment in the form of a rating on each pair of a set of concept labels) and essay test performance. (Author/PN)

Argues that realist researchers regard serendipitous events in research with suspicion, resulting in the lack of analysis of the role of serendipity in the generation of research ideas. Analyzes the significance and impact of serendipity in the process of a case study. Deliberates the problematic nature of constructing research stories. (DSK)

This paper presents a critique of current research on functional understanding of thinking and teaching. Three trends in cognitive research are examined. The "reification of mind" (the assumption that "mind" is an entity just as is body) is examined as a research trend that accepts knowledge as existing independent of the biographies, the…

Propositions expressed by students during interviews prior to and after audiovisual instruction served as the basis for Concept Propositional Analysis (CPA) to assess cognitive structure. CPAs for two students are reported and aspects of Ausubelian principles are discussed. The method showed that new learning can be linked to previous…

This paper describes how visual media technologies have been used to support research into the way technical diagrams are represented in people's minds. Two groups of subjects participated in this research, individuals with either a high or a low level of expertise in meteorology, specifically professional meteorologists and non-meteorologists.…

Summarizes findings on infants' capacity for object segregation. Maintains that infants can use featural and experiential information for segregation and individuation purposes long before 12 months of age. Disputes the claim that formation of object categories awaits early word learning, but acknowledges that language may play a key role in…

Responds to Needham and Baillargeon's criticisms and offers an alternative resolution of the conflicting results between the laboratories regarding abilities of infants less than 12 months to use property/featural information for object individuation. Maintains that kind concepts are acquired as infants approach their first birthday and that…

This study of college undergraduates had two purposes: (1) to determine whether cognitive structure, as assessed by psychometric measures of concept interrelatedness, can be developed; and (2) to apply those measures to a learning situation that has produced a nonspecific transfer effect--the facilitative effect of concrete examples on learning…

Calls for differentiating between three kinds of studies of students' conceptions in science, namely descriptive studies, explanatory studies, and studies attempting to foster conceptual change. Cites the literature about student perceptions and science instruction. (TW)

Two studies were conducted to compare the advance organizer and concept elaboration models of instruction with a task analysis approach. It was hypothesized that the concept elaboration group would achieve significantly higher than either the advance organizer group or the task analysis group on concept learning and principle learning. A pilot…

Self-directed learning (SDL) is among the most productive areas of research in adult education. Malcolm S. Knowles is credited with a comprehensive synthesis of adult teaching and adult learning principles. Andragogy, the art and science of helping adults learn, lies at the heart of Knowles' work. Lucy M. Guglielmino theorized regarding the…