Presents an alternate form of assignment, called "Special Problems," that incorporates writing in journals into the mathematics classroom. The method requires students to provide process narratives to accompany selected homework exercises. Allows the teacher to monitor the student's thought processes and development. (MDH)

Presents a study of metacognitive responses of English school children examining four common metacognitive function measures. Discusses the content of each measure, the search for developmental commonality, and statistical relationships. Concludes that no evidence supported a common metacognitive factor or unified construct, although a common…

Reports the results of an observational study concerning mathematical word problems to provide direction for others contemplating analyses of student difficulties from a theory base. Finds that most students experience difficulties in applying past experience, knowledge, and the language of mathematics to form internal world models. (PRA)

Presents a detailed description of an instructional design model called ADAPT (Apply Delayed Automatization for Positive Transfer), which offers guidelines for the development of instructional systems that offer transfer of learned skills. The cognitive architecture is described, the process of skill acquisition is discussed, and two illustrative…

Describes three experiments that examined college students' self-determination, problem-solving, and reading comprehension when using a linear, navigational, or generative computerized system to solve a problem or to prepare for a reading-comprehension test. Suggests that understanding students' goals explains outcomes of instruction, effects of…

Research reveals that in highly structured learning environments pedagogical agents can act as tools to direct students' learning processes by providing content or problem solving guidance. It has not yet been addressed whether pedagogical agents have a similar impact in more open learning environments that aim at fostering students' acquisition…

Simulation output analysis has received little attention comparing to modeling and programming in real-world simulation applications. This is further evidenced by our observation that students and beginners acquire neither adequate details of knowledge nor relevant experience of simulation output analysis in traditional classroom learning. With…

Extensive studies have been conducted on programming knowledge, instructional environments and effective pedagogies in order to improve the teaching and learning of computer programming. However, there have been few studies on the usefulness and effectiveness of using simulation. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to describe the design and…

Problem-based approaches to learning have a long history of advocating experience-based education. Psychological research and theory suggests that by having students learn through the experience of solving problems, they can learn both content and thinking strategies. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method in which students learn…

This study deals with the demand of a task. A theoretical background shows the difficulty of applying the idea of demand (as established in the literature) to the data. This has been confirmed in the preliminary study of this paper, which deals with the analysis of university examinations. Some factors that affect the demand of a task have been…

This paper reports the latest in a series of studies investigating children's performance in solving division story problems involving remainders. One aspect of the work involved examining the way in which "sense-making" is involved in the interpretation of the numerical solution obtained. Subjects were 195 sixth, seventh, and eighth…

Findings from prior research are drawn together to create a learning model for elementary school mathematics in the cognitive-constructivist tradition. A potential teaching/learning process consistent with the model was developed and applied in a longitudinal collaborative arrangement between university personnel and a local elementary school…

This document was prepared to help parents, educators, and concerned citizens better understand how children and adolescents actually learn. True learning involves: (1) developing a passion for learning; (2) acquiring communication skills; (3) constructing new knowledge; (4) taking part in concrete activities; and (5) developing problem solving…

Three learning modules are described and investigated as they reflect different students' conceptions of and approaches to learning. The Schoolwork Module (SWM) focuses on task performance and involves a passive, incremental, piecemeal, and rote memory method of learning, parallel to what might be implied by the Information Processing model of…

The processes by which conceptual knowledge is constructed during mathematical problem solving were studied, focusing on the cognitive activity of learners (i.e., the ways they elaborate, reorganize, and reconceptualize their solution activity). Underlying this research is the view that learners' mathematical conceptions evolve from their activity…