We are in the STEM generation whose comprehensive purpose is to resolve (1) societal needs for new technological and scientific advances; (2) economic needs for national security; and (3) personal needs to become a fulfilled, productive, knowledgeable citizen. STEM specifically refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but now…

Science curriculum and instruction in K-12 settings in the United States is currently dominated by an emphasis on the science standards movement of the 1990s and the resulting standards-based high-stakes assessment and accountability movement of the 2000s. We argue that this focus has moved the field away from important philosophical…

The ability of 616 students (grades 4-9) to apply the ratio concept in a simple measurement and prediction task was investigated. Responses were classified into 11 categories. Results showed those not using proportional reasoning had access to alternate procedures that reflected individual cognitive style rather than Piagetian developmental level.…

The hypothesis examined suggests that prequestions should be more facilitating than postquestions in directing students to the information necessary for a problem's solution. Fourteen problems were designed for a criterion measure, and 52 students in community college intermediate algebra classes were the subjects. Results indicated question…

The purpose of this paper is to open lines of thinking about discovery learning not tried before. This effort is a strident attempt to establish new insights and outlooks that will improve the language, theory, and practices connected with this teaching method. (Author/MK)

Describes three major difficulties plaguing most discovery-learning teaching systems and presents a theoretical operational approach for offsetting these difficulties. (SL)

The relationship between impulsivity and learning in mathematics is discussed. The study used 55 elementary students aged 12 or less. Children identified as mathematically deficient were found to exhibit moderately strong correlations between impulsivity and 14 areas of mathematics achievement. (MP)

Advance organizers may fail to promote learning even though they are approximately related to the main learning experience and internally meaningful and logical. If they are to optimize the likelihood that new materials will be readily and properly subsumed, they must also be constructed to conform to the cognitive preparedness and scholastic…

A presentation of learning experiences involving materials is recommended which reflects the sequence of the developmental stages. This sequence is concrete, concrete-abstract, pictorial-abstract, and abstract. Instructional examples at each level are presented. (JP)

The kind of learning experience provided by the LOGO programing language, its efficiency as a learning tool within the school curriculum, and the role of the teacher in the LOGO environment are each discussed. (MNS)

The investigation was intended to assess the relationships of three variables at three distinctly different grade levels. The objective was to understand better the roles that each construct plays in relation to mathematics attitudes. Results did not establish causality, but it is felt implications for causality are clear. (MP)

Two questions are addressed: (1) What is Competency-Based Education (CBE); and (2) What are some persistent questions which need solutions in CBE? CBE is seen to be a unique and powerful vehicle which teachers can use to deliver instruction according to a student's needs. (MP)

Eighty tenth-graders studied a two-day unit on quadratic inequalities presented in one of four programmed-booklet forms: analytic treatment with advance organizer, analytic treatment plus introductory overview, graphical treatment with advance organizer and graphical treatment with introductory overview. No differences were found between groups on…

Preservice teachers administered Piagetian tasks to elementary students. On the whole data collected compared favorably with the findings of Renner (EJ 044 727) in showing that students achieved conservation of substance (liquids and solids), length, area, and weight at later ages than stated by Piaget. No significant sex differences were found.…