Reviews the literature in the area of cognitive psychology that is relevant to training for transfer of skills. The roles of models, schema, and principles in transfer are discussed, the way in which examples facilitate schema acquisition is summarized, and the relation of schema to procedural and discovery learning is outlined. (43 references)…

The studies reported in this paper are an initial effort to explore the applicability of computational models in introductory science learning. Two instructional interventions are described that use a molecular dynamics model embedded in a set of online learning activities with middle and high school students in 10 classrooms. The studies indicate…

Describes the Vicarious Learner Project, a project which investigates the fundamental role of dialog for learning, specifically the benefits to learners of being able to observe others participating in discussion. Theoretical aspects of the work, a high-level process model of learning, and a more detailed logic model of what happens in educational…

Through a review of the literature, looks at instructional and curricular issues related to the student-as-scientist model and the critical nature of the teacher's role in expanding school science activities to include this model. (SM)

Previous research has shown a relationship between formal reasoning ability and science process skill attainment. It has been hypothesized that an increased emphasis on teaching process skills might enhance the formal thinking abilities of students. A variety of strategies have been proposed to better accomplish this task, most notable, the…

Educational research has thus far failed to greatly improve education because it is based on a model of reality that emphasizes unilateral control in both research and practice. Efforts to gain unilateral control presume that researchers or practitioners know what is significant from the outset, that they are essentially outside the situation they…