This article contributes to the research literature concerning prospective elementary teachers' mathematical thinking and learning with a focus on flexibility. We present a case study of a prospective elementary teachers' development of flexibility in mental addition and subtraction during a Number and Operations course. Building upon the…

Examined the cognitive processes through which writing contributes to science learning among elementary school students. Analyzed four aspects of students' verbal learning strategies: writing operations, transitional sequences among writing operations, text features, and strategies for generating content. Concluded that for elementary students,…

Examines perceptions of eighth graders in a science teaching environment in which they guide their own learning, frame problems for inquiry, design data collection procedures, and interpret and present data in a convincing fashion. Asserts that, in constructing their inquiries, students successfully negotiated courses of action and established…

Describes a series of preliminary studies suggesting that the benefits of collaboration may be not only the result of peer interaction but also due to peer presence. Suggests peer presence must be considered in all such studies, and that better integration of social and affective approaches with cognitive approaches may be necessary to understand…

Examined how task design influences the effectiveness of peer collaboration in facilitating students' conceptual change in physics. Subjects were 8- to 12-year olds studying heating and cooling. Results showed the general superiority of collaborative tasks that both facilitate critical testing and require rules; task designs deploying one feature…

Identified factors associated with learning mathematics in groups with computers. Subjects were 8 groups of 6 students, ages 9 to 12 years, using LOGO. Analysis of learning measures indicated positive gains resulting from groupwork, with no differences across gender or ability; analysis of process factors pointed to explanations for the differing…

Investigated thinking patterns of fourth- and seventh-grade dyads collaborating on a projection of shadows task. Found that on average students gained in transformational reasoning but not in geometric description; however, the opposite was true for one quarter. Results suggest the need to take into account the plurality of goals, interests, and…

Describes science curriculum for elementary children which incorporated Vygotskian approach to development of students' ability to engage in persistent, systematic inquiry. Discusses three factors: (1) instruction began by introducing ideas that are central and general to the discipline; (2) students invented and adapted cultural tools for…

Suggests that young pupils find collaborative learning hard to sustain, and discusses interpretations of this observation. Suggests that theory and research have neglected situational continuities between formal and (more successful) informal collaborations. Argues for attending more carefully to the environments of joint problem solving and how…

Evaluated the "ThinkerTools Inquiry Curriculum," a computer-enhanced, middle school science curriculum, to determine the impact of including the Reflective Assessment Process. Found that students' performance improved significantly on both physics and inquiry assessments. Controlled comparison revealed that students' learning was greatly…

Investigated the development among fourth-graders of two-dimensional space concepts within a mathematics unit on grids, coordinates, and rectangles. Found that students' knowledge of grid and coordinate systems related to levels of competence in number sense, spatial-geometric relationships, and the ability to discriminate and integrate the two…