High school students' misunderstandings of the conceptual machine of the BASIC programming language were examined using a screening test and structured interviews to determine their understanding of fundamental concepts such as variables, assignments, loops, flow and control, and tracing and debugging. (MBR)

Describes the contents of a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Ideas: A Guide to Encouraging Creativity which considers the thinking process, why skills need to be developed, and how students use or should use these thinking skills. (RT)

This study investigated the perception of university teachers regarding what critical thinking skills are needed for successful undergraduate study, and determined the relative importance of these skills within and across academic disciplines. A total of 31 university teachers in 6 academic disciplines of Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences,…

This study examined the effect of an innovative teaching activity to improve concrete operational thinking skills with preschoolers in Head Start programs. A "learning set" of classification games and seriation games was used to teach the oddity principle and insertion into a series. These games were played with the children using toy ponies and…

This manual was developed to provide guidance to individuals working in Project SOAR (Stress on Analytical Reasoning), a pre-freshman summer program for science majors anticipating matriculation at Xavier University of Louisiana. Following an overview of Xavier University and Project SOAR and an outline of general instructions, specific…

This investigation analyzed sex-related and age-related differences on spatial visualization tasks, reasoning tasks, and mathematical problem-solving tasks; and the effects instruction in visual thinking would have on these differences. Students in fifth grade, ninth grade, and in college, were tested before and after twelve weeks of instruction…

This guide to a total developmental language program for kindergarten is divided into three sections: (1) Helpful Hints to the Teacher, (2) Expanding Verbal Power, and (3) Linking Language and Thought. Subjects in Section 2 include hearing and speaking clearly, increasing vocabulary, extending meaning, expanding language patterns, conveying ideas,…

Suggests that secondary school students seem to have reasonably good procedural knowledge in areas of mathematics as rational numbers, probability, measurement, and data organization and interpretation. It appears, however, that students are lacking the conceptual knowledge enabling them to successfully do the assessment items on applications,…

A study of high school students learning computer programming was conducted to determine the impact of programming on particular mathematical and reasoning abilities, the cognitive skills or abilities that best predict programming ability, and what students actually understand about programming after two years of study. (MBR)

Students in Grades six, seven, and eight were asked to integrate existing information and initially unknown answers to prose-related questions for answering superordinate questions. Results suggest that grade level development of hypothetico-deductive skills interacts with instructional prompt levels and that these skills are essential to…

Describes three activities that the teacher can employ to help students develop thinking skills through mathematics instruction: (1) memorization using the technique of chunking; (2) higher order thinking with magic squares; and (3) predicting games. Identifies eight facets of the teacher's role in promoting thinking skills. (MDH)

Science is at heart a rational activity. Reasoning, being an important component of critical thinking has been successfully taught using Socratic methods. As an approach, the instructor or designer of instruction models an inquiring and probing mind focusing on providing questions and not answers. The main aim has been to allow learners to…

This study describes the learning of researchers who engage in mathematics teacher education as an integral part of their practice. As teacher educators working with teachers on the subject of proportional reasoning, the authors reflected on teachers solutions to a standard problem and analyzed answers that would conventionally be considered…

This study examined cognitive processes and outcomes associated with student knowledge base development. Sixty-nine students from two grade 8 classes were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a knowledge base development (KBD) group, a problem-solving software group, and a control group. Those in the KBD group received relevant instruction…

This paper summarizes a report designed to provide the National Science Board Commission with information about recent advances in cognitive/behavioral science relevant to mathematics, science, and technology education, as well as prospective contributions from these fields if adequate levels of support are available. Following a summary…