In this study 34 spontaneous analogies produced by 16 college freshmen while solving qualitative physics problems are analyzed. A number of the analogies were invalid in the sense that they led to an incorrect answer from the physicist's point of view. However, many were valid, and a few were powerful in the sense that they seemed not only to help…

This study tested the effectiveness of having fifth-grade students generate their own examples of selected concepts on energy. Hypotheses were that subjects would perform better on sections of a test related to definitions and recognition of exemplars of the concepts for which they found their own examples than on sections related to comparible…

Reviews a monograph which addresses children's higher-order thinking skills. Suggests the following for teaching problem solving: identify and develop content-independent and content-dependent problem-solving skills, connect developed skills through workshop-style activities to subject discipline, and help students identify and reconstruct their…