This paper focuses on the analysis of Bebras Challenge tasks to find Informatics tasks that develop abstract thinking. Our study seeks to find which Bebras tasks develop abstraction and in what way. We analysed hundreds of tasks from the Czech contest to identify those tasks requiring participants to abstract directly or use abstract structures.…

Earth science concepts can be challenging for children to grasp due to their abstract nature. This study explores the potential of 3D computer animation as an engaging and effective medium to communicate various earth science processes to young learners. By creating age-appropriate, scientifically accurate visualizations of geological features and…

Mathematics teacher education programs in the United States are charged with preparing prospective secondary teachers (PSTs) to teach reasoning and proving across grade levels and mathematical topics. Although most programs require a course on proof, PSTs often perceive it as disconnected from their future classroom practice. Our design research…

Secondary school pupils underachieve in tests in which reasoning abilities are required. Brain-based training of working memory (WM) may improve reasoning abilities. In this study, we use a brain-based training programme based on historical content to enhance reasoning abilities in history courses. In the first experiment, a combined intervention…

Introduction: Scientific and technological areas include tuition based on highly visuo-spatial specialization and problem solving. Spatial skills and problem solving are embedded in a curriculum that promotes understanding of Science and technical subjects. These abilities are related to the development of executive functions (EFs). We aim to…

A comparison of the analogy-solving ability of 12 deaf and 12 hearing adolescents supported the predication that hearing Ss would demonstrate better analogical reasoning. The prediction was based on the premise that the oral-aural communication mode provides sensory experience that facilitates the perception of the contrast necessary to cognition…

Relationships between word knowledge and proverb comprehension was examined in 150 typically achieving adolescents (ages 12, 15, and 18). Word knowledge was associated with proverb comprehension in all groups, particularly in the case of abstract proverbs. Results support a model of proverb comprehension in adolescents that includes bottom-up in…

This study examined the conduct of academic tasks in six secondary classrooms, focusing specifically on assigments requiring some higher level cognitive operations, with attention to how management strategies and classroom conditions associated with these assignments affect their cognitive demands on students. Analysis of tasks in these six…

Used a pretest/post-test control group design involving 44 female adolescent subjects to determine whether Moral Stage 3 subjects who have attained early basic formal operations are more susceptible to attempts to stimulate moral development than Stage 3 subjects who have attained only beginning formal operations and lack the cognitive…

Based on a set of theoretical assumptions relating to the cognitive modificability of low functioning adolescents, a program of Instrumental Enrichment was developed and implemented with 41 hearing impaired secondary students. The primary goals of Instrumental Enrichment included: (1) improving performance in spatial relations, (2) improving…

Learning potential hypothesis and its applicability to hearing and deaf low-achieving students was examined in this article. Results indicate that learning potential procedures can be used effectively with the deaf. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. (Author/DF)

Adolescents with mental retardation viewed a story enacted with props and were asked questions about the knowledge and beliefs of the characters. Subjects performed worse than did nondisabled children matched for mental age. Subjects did better on questions requiring first-order reasoning than on those involving second-order reasoning. (Author/JDD)

Employing a sample of 51 12-year-old British secondary pupils, a study analyzed children's written and oral responses to a series of (contradictory) historical questions concerning the Boston Massacre of 1770. Many students were capable of abstract historical reasoning--critiquing sources, detecting bias and ambiguity, and determining flaws in…

Arthur Jensen has argued that genetic differences in abstract reasoning ability, not cultural bias in the test item, are the causes of differences in standardized test performance between American Blacks and Whites. He used a study by Frank McGurk to support his argument. McGurk's study used test items judged most cultural or least cultural. These…

Two experiments involving 42 students from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf investigated both the visual and tactile components in the processing of spatial information. Test measures used were the Figures Rotations Test, Group Embedded Figures Test, and Tactile Rotations Test. The study suggested that spatial reasoning is a determining…