This article seeks to provide researchers and practitioners in laboratory education, particularly those involved in the curriculum design and implementation of teaching laboratories at university level, with a conceptual framework and a working model for an integrated assessment of learning domains, by attending to a more holistic approach to…

Suggests that literary study should employ student creative writing as a transition into expository critical writings and discussion of literary works. (DD)

Approximately 500 nonscience major university chemistry students were surveyed to record their interpretations of specific chemical symbolism before presenting modern concepts of atomic and molecular structure, in an attempt to understand the thought processes entering students use as they interpret symbolism. Results are reported and discussed.…

Nine undergraduate science and non-science majors (novices) who had recently completed their first college classroom study of genetics and seven genetics graduate students and biology instructors (experts) were videotaped as they attempted to solve a selected group of seven moderately complex classifical genetics problems and three Piagetian tasks…

Describes a study conducted at Gallaudet University to assess the need for programs to improve the cognitive skills of hearing-impaired college students. Indicates that 91 students who received systematic cognitive instruction had better logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and math scores than students who did not receive this instruction.…

Presents a technique for introducing analysis of variance (ANOVA) at the concrete level of operational thought, enabling students in introductory statistics courses to understand the complex correlations and interactions between variables. Helps students develop an intuitive understanding of the concepts of between- and within-groups variance and…

Studio teaching takes place in a tradition-rich, complex setting where teachers fill myriad roles with diverse students. In this paper, which was drawn from a larger research program, illustrative findings about three aspects of architecture studio teaching are analyzed from the perspective of the existing literature on teaching and teachers'…

Describes a research paper assignment that asks students to come up with a question (problem) in some academic field that can be answered (solved) from synthesizing all of the information currently available. Argues that such an assignment teaches the research paper within a rhetorical context. (HOD)

The goal of this article is to identify and disseminate several important messages from recent research on formal thought. Reasoning by adolescents, measurement of Piagetian formal reasoning, the importance of additional factors, stages, and working memory are discussed. (MNS)

Presents a checklist of core behaviors for use in assessing students' strengths, weaknesses, and changes in thinking skills. Lists persistence, decreased impulsivity, flexibility, metacognition, checking for accuracy, problem posing, drawing on past knowledge and experience, transfer of skills to new situations, precision of language, and…

Describes and outlines the general syllabus of a philosophy course entitled, "Minds and Robots." Lists the assigned readings and explains the issues addressed in the 14-week course. Essay questions that are used for the mid-term and final exams are also included. (ML)

To assess Feuerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device's (LPAD) ability to identify deficient cognitive functions, Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices were administered to 176 elementary/junior high students--25 percent were rescored--and 12 complete LPAD reports from a university educational clinic were reanalyzed. Correlations were…

Undeclared majors, like declared majors, are at various levels of maturity, and the development and implementation of advising strategies must incorporate these levels and the students' perspective. An integrated model of college student development applied to the undeclared major is presented. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the learning cycle, a strategy developed by Karplus for incorporating Piaget's concepts into a pragmatic method for use in any classroom. The three facets to this strategy, exploration, invention, and application, are described. Includes an exercise that can be used for high school and college classrooms. (CS)

Reviews theories of cognitive development to show that most basic writers are operating below the true-concept formation stage and have difficulty in "decentering"; suggests writing assignments based on inference-drawing to remedy the situation. (DD)