Engaging students in a challenging (cognitively demanding) task and launching a mathematics lesson with a task before instruction are two characteristics of a reform-oriented approach to mathematics instruction often considered together. The authors systematically contrasted teaching with challenging tasks using a task-first lesson structure with…

The authors investigated whether the amount of instructional guidance affects science learning and self-efficacy. Sixty 9- and 10-year-old children were randomly assigned to one of the following three instructional conditions: (a) guided instruction consisting of examples and student-generated explanations, (b) direct instruction consisting of a…

An ambiguity in Gagne and Briggs' model of instructional design was investigated using treatments which contrasted verbal expository and guided discovery forms of presentation. Analysis found the guided discovery method as effective as the expository method on all measures. Implications are discussed. (Author/MT)

No significant interaction was found between the field independent cognitive style and the level of guidance in mathematics instruction in a study involving prospective elementary school teachers. (Editor)

This study correlates high school students with different exploration preferences with classrooms having different social exploration climates, finding that in high exploration classrooms, students high in exploration preference were more satisfied and better adjusted. (JMF)

Discovery and expository learning were compared in a study of independent and dependent learners enrolled in a college chemistry course. Discovery learning was found to be superior for both groups of learners, with independent students performing better than dependent students using discovery learning. (Author/DF)

The field dependent and independent dimensions of cognitive style focus on the individual's ability to perceive and manipulate a figure with or without a background. Research suggests that field dependence or independence does not significantly interact with expository or discovery teaching styles to heighten achievement. (Author/CMJ)

The creative-aesthetic approach to educational stimulation accelerates the development of question-asking skills, of the 5-year olds tested, more than the traditional kindergarten approach. (Author/MF)

The problem of this investigation was to ascertain the relative effects of two teaching strategies, discovery and expository (telling), on the learning of economic concepts by first grade students, as measured by a criterion test instrument. (Author)

Examined the effectiveness of experienced-based versus other experiential learning. First graders participated in experience-dictation, experience-debriefing, or debriefing-only groups. Pre- and posttesting probed students' understanding of 10 basic economic concepts and use of cost-benefit analysis in decision making. Findings supported the…

Pupils in an open plan (as opposed to traditional) school were found to have more positive attitudes toward school and themselves and scored higher on some measures of productivity; on measures of curiosity there were no differences. (Editor)

Two studies were conducted to obtain information about the metacognitive environment of the preschool child and the impact of parent-child communication on problem solving. Children working with parents showed improvement on several problem-solving measures, but children working alone also improved, solely as a result of practice. (Author/PP)

The relationship between intellectual ability, working method, and learning was investigated with simulations in both structured and unstructured learning environments. High- and low-intelligence college students' thinking-aloud protocols were analyzed on quality of working method. Results indicated that both intellectual ability and working…