Cognitive diagnostic models can uncover students' mastery of multiple fine-grained skill attributes or problem-solving processes. A number of studies have applied cognitive diagnostic models to detect students' knowledge mastery in mathematics and language testing. However, few studies focus on cognitive diagnostic assessment in K-12 science…

This study investigates the effects of adapting elementary science instruction to students' entering achievement levels on three dependent variables: (1) performance on tests of science content knowledge; (2) mastery of lesson objectives; and (3) attitude toward science. Subjects were 235 sixth graders from four elementary schools in a small,…

An empirical analysis of the relationship between science reasoning skills and the amount of information acquired during science learning as predicted by a neuromathematical model of information processing is presented. Subjects were 93 adolescents (mean age of 15.4 years old) with a IQ range of 91-142. (Author/JN)

A prescriptive model of problem-solving performance is described. The aim of the model is to specify explicitly how problems should be described initially in such a form as to facilitate their subsequent solution. According to the model, the process of initial problem description can be decomposed into two successive stages. The first uses general…

This study examined a proposed procedure for constructing theoretical descriptions of mechanics problems, in particular, to determine if the procedure led to explicit and correct descriptions of the motion and interaction of systems and if the resulting theoretical descriptions facilitated generation of correct constraint equations and, hence,…

This paper reviews the educational research related to student understanding of water and water resources. The literature is drawn primarily from science and environmental education literature and is divided into student knowledge of: physical and chemical properties, biology, earth systems and water resources. The majority of work has been in the…

Describes three perspectives from which middle school teachers can plan laboratory activities for the purpose of improving students' scientific literacy. Perspectives are the learning cycle approach categorizing activities by stages of development; problem-solving skills approach categorizing activities according to the amount of teacher control;…

Much has been written about the value of metacognition. However, little research has identified subsumed intellectual factors, logical operators, and cognitive functions; or has established clear relationships between metacognition and science cognition. This paper presents a study to build a strategic metacognitive model of an efficient,…

How science understandings are communicated and how students construct meaning of these communications are central issues in epistemic research. Students' metacognition of the meaning-making process is embedded in this line of research. This paper reports a study to examine children's declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of science…

One hundred and forty students in grades 6 and 7 were asked to process 32 science statements. Half of the statements were consistent with their prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Half of the students were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining students were…