Collected qualitative data through interviews and triad elicitation with 5-year-olds in London to determine children's current knowledge and understanding of their "making" activity and of Lego construction kit components. Data provided triangulation for another study that found that young children could achieve a great deal with…

New understandings about learning and a vision of vocational education as lifelong planning and learning to work with others and be productive converge to suggest that vocational education will be a central force in this century. Vocational programs will continue to stress personal and cognitive development, connections between practical and…

Comparison of the process of problem solving using a conventional procedural computer programing language (e.g., BASIC, Logo, Pascal), with the process when using a logic programing language (i.e., Prolog), focuses on the potential of the two types of programing languages to facilitate the transfer of problem-solving skills, cognitive development,…

Two experiments, with 300 adult women as subjects, studied the effects of laboratory training on the use of the Conjunction Rule, a principle of probability that is often violated. Learning alternative strategies enabled trained subjects to use extensional reasoning rather than intensional heuristics. (SLD)

Asserts that the sudden insights that characterize intuitive thinking are as important in effectuating learning as analytical thinking. Claims that intuitive thinking enables students to comprehend complex relationships better, to put things into better perspective, to generate new ideas, and to perceive more ways to integrate facts, concepts, and…

Analyzes the cognitive processes and kinds of knowledge needed to work in a scientific domain like physics. Discusses the processes needed to interpret scientific concepts, uses of quantitative and qualitative descriptions, hierarchical ways of organizing scientific knowledge, and processes facilitating problem solving. Describes the use of these…

Focuses on the effects of the application of two problem-solving techniques--metacognitive and heuristic--on the achievement of students in the computation of creative mathematics problems. Results indicate that there was a significant difference in the achievement of experimental and control groups. Contains 24 references. (Author/ASK)

Reports on an intensive study of problem-solving activity of female students at the senior secondary level. Focuses on both the mathematical processing and the underlying cognitive and metacognitive activities that led to that processing. Concludes that all successful groups displayed a high number of key points where metacognitive decisions could…

Explores the utility of mental models as learning outcomes in using complex and situated learning environments. Describes two studies: one aimed at eliciting mental models in the heads of novice refrigeration technicians, and the other an ethnographic study eliciting knowledge and models within the community of experienced refrigeration…

Issues in the design of nursing problems for problem-based learning are as follows: problems must support the underlying educational philosophy and desired outcomes; they should use material from actual cases; and they should be constructed so students take responsibility for learning and control the learning process. (SK)

Striving to meet a diverse community's learning needs, the Federal Way (Washington) Public Schools leverages technology to help students acquire world-class skills while reaching to achieve grade-level standards. A laptop-based learning program and a statewide Internet academy give students new learning options. (MLH)

Discusses agent technology within educational settings and describes two information systems, SMILE (Solution, Mapping, Intelligent, Learning, Environment) and AIMS (Agent based Information Management System) that use concept mapping to address issues including adaptive learner support, problem solving, information navigation, information…

Explains why it is important for chemistry educators to know about metacognition, provides some examples to illustrate main points, and discusses some instructional tools that have been employed to promote metacognition in introductory science courses. (Contains over 50 references.) (WRM)

Introduces a role playing activity that actively engages students in the learning process of mitosis. Students play either chromosomes carrying information, or cells in the cell membrane. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/YDS)

This paper answers several frequently asked questions about constructivism, including how to define it, how to plan the curriculum, how to assess student understanding, what to do with the information, where to begin, how students work in a constructivist classroom, and why constructivism is important. (SM)