Studies have found that some teacher professional development programs that are based on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) can increase student mathematics achievement. The mechanism through which those effects are realized has been theorized, but more empirical study is needed. In service of this need, we designed a novel measure of…

We review the musical conservatory as a model for educators to learn how to enhance admissions, instruction, and assessment in liberal arts collegiate settings. Although conservatories serve primarily students wishing to enter musical careers of various kinds, the model on which they are based can, in many ways, serve any student and any school.…

Background: The theoretical understanding of firesetting behaviour has predominantly been developed with men in prisons or psychiatric hospitals without neurodevelopmental disabilities. Consequently, there is a lack of evidence regarding the validity of current theory when applied to adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. Method:…

Learning, development, and response to instruction often involve changes in the strategies that learners use to solve problems. In this chapter, our focus is on mathematical problem solving in both children and adults. We offer a selective review of research on three classes of factors that may influence processes of strategy change in…

The author suggests the brain's cerebellum and cerebral cortex are the origin of culture and considers the cerebellar models that came to constitute culture to be derived specifically from play. He summarizes recent research on the behavioral, cognitive, and affective evolution of the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex that shows the development…

The present study examined the interplay among negative emotionality, responsive parenting and socio-cognitive developmental outcomes (i.e., communication, personal-social and problem-solving outcomes) in about 1620 Korean children using three waves of longitudinal data spanning the first 2 years of their life. Results from the Structural Equation…

Symbolic play is a powerful vehicle for supporting emotional development and communication. It embraces all developmental capacities. This article describes how symbols are formed and how emotional themes are symbolized whereby children reveal their understanding of the world, their feelings and relationships, and how they see themselves in the…

How do engineering students approach mathematical modelling problems and how can they learn to deal with such problems? In the context of a course in mathematical modelling and problem solving, and using a qualitative case study approach, we found that the students had little prior experience of mathematical modelling. They were also inexperienced…

A theoretical model of metacognition in complex modeling activities has been developed based on existing frameworks, by synthesizing the re-conceptualization of metacognition at multiple levels by looking at the three sources that trigger metacognition. Using the theoretical model as a framework, this study was designed to explore how students'…

This paper argues that design fixation, in part, entails fixation at the level of meta-representation, the representation of the relation between a representation and its reference. In this paper, we present a mathematical model that mimics the idea of how fixation can occur at the meta-representation level. In this model, new abstract concepts…

In the field of human cognition, language plays a special role that is connected directly to thinking and mental development (e.g., Vygotsky, "1938"). Thanks to "verbal thought", language allows humans to go beyond the limits of immediately perceived information, to form concepts and solve complex problems (Luria, "1975"). So, it appears language…

In Finland, schools' effectiveness in fostering the development of transversal skills is evaluated through large-scale learning to learn (LTL) assessments. This article presents how LTL skills--general cognitive competences and learning-related motivational beliefs--develop during primary school and how they predict pupils' CPS skills at the end…

The development of flexible, transferable problem-solving skills is an important aim of contemporary educational systems. Since processing limitations of our mind represent a major factor influencing any meaningful learning, the acquisition of flexible problem-solving skills needs to be based on known characteristics of our cognitive architecture…

Algebraic solving ability had been discussed by many educators and researchers. There exists no definite definition for algebraic solving ability as it can be viewed from different perspectives. In this paper, the nature of algebraic solving ability in terms of algebraic processes that demonstrate the ability in solving algebraic problem is…

Evolutionary psychologists often propose that humans carry around "stone-age" brains, along with a toolkit of cognitive adaptations designed originally to solve hunter-gatherer problems. This perspective predicts that optimal cognitive performance might sometimes be induced by ancestrally-based problems, those present in ancestral environments,…