Numerous investigations show that most school science teaching, in Spain and elsewhere, implicitly transmits an inductivist and very stereotyped view of science and conveys an unrealistic image of scientific work. We present some results of an investigation with fourth-level Spanish secondary education students (15 year olds) who were taught…

One of the major issues related to teaching an introductory programming course is the excessive amount of time spent on the language's syntax, which leaves little time for developing skills in program design and solution creativity. The wide variation in the students' backgrounds, coupled with the traditional classroom (one size-fits-all) teaching…

The Missouri Rural Innovation Institute (MRII) of the University of Missouri Extension and the Missouri Department of Health began an effort in 1989 to help communities foster a greater awareness about health care and its cost, availability, and access. The institute sought to initiate action at the local and state levels. This initiative has…

Models and modeling are frequently used as instructional tools in science education to convey important information concerning both the explanatory and structural features of topic areas in science. The efficacy of models as such rests almost entirely upon students' ability to conceptualize them as abstracted "representations" of…

Processes of solving an ill-structured problem were studied. Eight individuals (recent graduates and participants in a teacher education program) learned about a fictitious vehicle, and then designed instruction about it. The individuals were relative novices in instructional design, because of a small amount of professional training in the…

This paper presents a three-phase model of how formative evaluation research can inform the design of educational computer software products. Used as an illustrative case is a program of formative research conducted on "The Talking Clock," a computer assisted instructional software product designed to help children in kindergarten through second…

Mathematical skills and reasoning and their applications are considered as forming one of the basic and essential areas of knowledge and experience that should be available to all Australian children. This collection of essays explaining problem solving in mathematics as an organizing theme for current and future curriculum development is a means…

In this article, the author describes a model for environmental education curriculum development in the public schools based on a decision-making approach. Included in the curriculum content are problems concerning the methods of science, technology, and morality, all being considered as an integral part of environmental education. (MA)

Three instruments designed to evaluate the performance of work groups in organizations were analyzed with reference to a recently developed comprehensive model of the group problem solving process. Although each instrument measured nine or ten dimensions of group behavior, none of them measured more than seven of the 16 categories of variables…

This survey of intelligent tutoring systems describes the components of these systems, different teaching scenarios, and the relation of these systems to a theory of instruction. It argues that the underlying pedagogical approach is to make latent knowledge manifest by using different forms of quantitative modeling: (1) simulating physical…

A group of American and Japanese psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, and computer scientists gathered at the University of California, San Diego, to exchange ideas on models of joint problem solving and their special relevance to the design and implementation of computer-based systems of instruction. Much of the discussion focused on…

The relationship between teacher empowerment and the knowledge bases in teacher education is discussed. Assuming that students are not standardized and teaching is not routine, teachers must be capable of making judgments using learning theory and pedagogy, child development and cognition, curriculum and assessment. Teachers must know their…

A literature review is presented on four alternative models of delivering special services to learning-disabled students. The literature search was conducted to identify pedagogically sound, effective, and efficient program approaches as alternatives to resource room programs. The four models identified from a search of the Canadian, American, and…

This paper discusses two primary instructional goals of Feuerstein's instrumental enrichment approach to remedial educational interventions. The instrumental enrichment approach is a method of classroom intervention directed toward helping students acquire the logical and psychological prerequisites of independent formal thought. The first and…

This paper outlines seven assumptions about teaching conditions that best facilitate critical thinking in the undergraduate psychology curriculum; the main ideas proposed in a model of critical thinking developed by a network of psychologists across the nation; and the application of this critical thinking model to the undergraduate curriculum.…