Principals are increasingly expected to be the instructional as well as administrative leaders of their schools. However, little is known about how principals reason through the instructional issues that they face. An analysis of principal reasoning in instructional contexts is critical. The study presented in this article draws on interviews with…

While researchers can describe how some effective principals perform in some situations, little is known about what shapes their practice and what meaning they find in such practice. This report is part of a larger series exploring principals' problem-solving strategies and thought processes. This paper examines one problem-solving dimension…

Third and fourth grade boys classified as impulsive, reflective, fast/accurate and slow/inaccurate responded to matching tasks varying in the number of dimensions involved. Reflective children performed better on the task with fewer dimensions, while impulsive children were better on the task with many dimensions. (JKS)

Deductive reasoning problems were presented to 72 public elementary school students, half of whom were identified as gifted (mean age of 9.6 years) and half of whom were regular education students (mean age of 9.3 years). They were used to test an hypothesis that gifted children who score significantly higher than average on standardized…

Examined the relationship between social adjustment and problem solving skills in samples of popular, aggressive, and isolated boys. Popular boys generated more problem solutions than the other groups. Data showed deviant boys are deficient in generating solutions but not in evaluations of presented solutions. (Author/RC)

In a study of children's use of encoding and strategy knowledge in domains in which problem-specific experience is lacking, children were tested for serial recall. Seven- and nine-year olds encoded contiguity relations, and encoding was related to strategy choices. Less consistent encoding of five-year olds did not influence strategy choices. (BC)

This study of problem solving and conceptual tempo had two objectives: (1) to begin to clarify the underlying deficiencies which contribute to the less efficient information processing of impulsive children (as compared with reflective children) during problem solving; and (2) to demonstrate the utility of using a task analysis as a…

The relationship between cognitive style and hypothesis-testing behavior was studied in 46 third grade children. It was found that field independent children process information more efficiently and according to a perfect focusing model. Efforts to enhance the information processing of field dependent children were described. (GDC)

Documents the different problem-solving styles and approaches of two first-grade children having strong mathematical abilities. One child demonstrated an extrinsic, algorithmic style of problem-solving, while the other used an intrinsic, individual-in-control style. (NH)

Describes a project based on the book "Roxaboxen" by Alice McLerran for a multiage summer program at the Loudon Country Day School (Virginia) where children create an imaginary town. Discusses benefits of the project, including connecting children with books, illuminating the importance of play, use of imagination, and suitability for various…

The purpose of this study was to relate children's cognitive processing capabilities and their grade level to their performance and to the strategies they used when working addition and subtraction problems. From two sets of data which assessed memory capacity and cognitive processing capacities, six groups of children with different cognitive…

Seventy fifth-grade students in Australia were observed as each solved a jigsaw puzzle. Boys obtained higher scores on a measure of cognitive style and took less time to complete the jigsaw task; the two measures were significantly correlated. Uses of tangrams are also discussed. (MNS)

Offers five suggestions to help students assess the reasonableness of their answers: (1) giving students a variety of problems; (2) facilitating students' discussions and interpretations of the problem conditions; (3) encouraging students to estimate answers before carrying out calculations; (4) encouraging students to ask whether their answers…

A study was conducted to examine computer programming as a problem solving activity. Thirteen fifth grade children were selected by their teacher from an above average class to use Apple IIe microcomputers. The investigator conducted sessions of 40-50 minutes with the children in groups of two or three. Four problems, incorporating the programming…

The effectiveness of a procedure for identifying certain cognitive processes used during problem solving is explored. The procedure was used to: categorize types of conceptual thinking problem solvers employ; study the use of trial-and-error behavior; and investigate abilities to coordinate multiple bits of information. (Author/GK)