Assessed was the level of thinking of 140 students who had been placed in developmental algebra as entering college freshmen. Scores on the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking, Scholastic Aptitude Tests, college placement tests; high school grade point average, and developmental algebra final grade were analyzed. Group characteristics are…

Determined was the effect that cooperative groups heterogeneously based on proportional reasoning ability have on problem solving in regular and honors high school chemistry. Characteristics of successful and unsuccessful problem solvers individually and in groups are discussed. (KR)

Reviews the neural modeling principles of learning, perception, cognition, and motor control, discusses their applications to sensory-motor problem solving, and explores possible relationships between that pattern of problem solving and aspects of higher order formal operational problem solving. Cites implications for science education. (ML)

Attempts to show that not only can density be taught to lower ability pupils but that by doing so, there is the possibility of assisting pupils to develop their reasoning powers. Lists teaching activities that help in this process. (CW)

Presents study findings which explored the effect of teacher reasoning level and teaching style preference on improvement in student-reasoning ability. Reports that students of concrete operational teachers and of inquiry teachers showed greater gains in reasoning ability than students of formal operational teachers and of expository teachers. (ML)

Analogies and examples from student's experiences are frequently cited as important to teaching conceptual material. This study was conducted in order to explore the effectiveness of an analogical teaching technique, which uses a connected sequence of "bridging" analogies, compared with a more standard teaching-by-example technique. The…

A teaching procedure and a curriculum construction model known as the learning cycle is described in this paper and research findings are discussed. Questions investigated include: (1) would students achieve more content understanding if taught with the learning cycle or exposition?; (2) would more content retention be evident if measurements were…

Previous research concerning the cognitive abilities of high school students has indicated that a substantial number of students enrolled in secondary science courses do not conceptualize at the formal-operational level. Further, results indicate that achievement levels in chemistry coursework are significantly affected by, not only cognitive…

This paper is a summary of much of the available research on college science laboratory instruction of the past decade with a focus on the effects of specific laboratory teaching strategies upon student learning outcomes. Some tentative interpretations from a review of the literature found are: (1) inquiry or investigative approaches in college…

Higher order cognitive development and success in the study of high school mathematics and science require an understanding of rational number concepts and facility with proportional reasoning and computation. Proportional reasoning is an essential schema for developing formal operational thought. This study involving 16 ninth-grade students was…