This study uses state-level staffing data to analyze the five-year career trajectories of all 231 first-year secondary science teachers in New Jersey who began teaching during the 2010-2011 school year. The person-position framework for studying teacher retention is introduced in this analysis, and the authors present a case for the importance of…

Assessments associated with learning progressions are designed to provide diagnostic information about the level and nature of student understanding. Valid interpretations of such diagnoses are only possible when students consistently express the ideas associated with a single learning progression level. Latent class analysis was employed to…

This article provides an extended, comprehensive example of how teachers, schools, districts, and external factors (e.g., parental pressure and policy mandates) shape curriculum research in the U.S. It retrospectively examines how three different middle school curriculum units were implemented and scaled-up in a large, diverse school system. The…

Reports on the results of using, in the context of secondary education in Pakistan, an intervention program which earlier was shown in British schools to have a substantial effect over a two-year period on the cognitive development of pupils. (Author/CCM)

Examines the transition from concrete to formal thought in Piagetian theory. The questions investigated relate to the abruptness of the transition period, the simultaneity of changes across schemes, and the influence of one scheme of development on another. (SA)

Discussed are the influences of a student's gender, grade level, country of origin, and urban/rural environment in performance of proportional and combinatorial Piagetian tasks. (Author/SA)

Provides evidence to support the conclusion that relationships exist among Piagetian levels of intellectual development, intelligence quotient, content achievement, and inquiry skills in ninth and tenth grade biology students (N=92). (DS)

Purposes of this study were to (1) develop an instrument requiring several classification activities; (2) investigate the correlation between classification ability and intelligence scores of junior high school students (N=365); and (3) determine if classification ability differs with age and gender. Findings included a significant correlation…

Determined if certain variations in the format of Inhelder and Piaget's Equilibrium in the Balance task have any effect on how students (175 undergraduate and 32 ninth graders) are classified. Suggests that researchers allow subjects to experiment with the apparatus to insure proper classification of stage of development. (Author/DS)

Discusses the inclusion of socio-scientific issues in science education from the standpoint of social cognition. Describes a study in which adolescents who had successfully completed both high school chemistry and biology were interviewed. Data suggest that their dominant domains of reasoning were in the area of social cognition. (TW)

This study explores the acquisition of proportionality by investigating the relationship between an understanding of proportionality and the development of cognitive structure in the domain of mechanics. (Author/MA)

Tested the hypothesis that spatial reasoning is a significant correlate both of formal thought, as defined by Piaget's measures of the proportionality schema, and of achievement in science. Sex differences in proportional reasoning and spatial skills in 6th-form (11- year-old) students from a New Zealand high school were also examined. (CS)

Presents a model that describes how students reconstruct geological transformations over time. Defines the critical factors influencing reconstructive thinking: (1) the transformation scheme, which influences the other diachronic schemes; (2) knowledge of geological processes; and (3) extracognitive factors. (Author/KHR)

Explores the effects of teaching particulate representation of chemistry on the achievement of high school students in terms of gender interaction. Indicates that females who were taught the particulate representation scored as well as males whereas those who were not taught the particulate representation scored significantly lower than males.…

Hypothesized that instructional methods employing concrete models and exemplars of a concept will lead to better student understanding at both the concrete and formal operational levels of cognitive development. However, concrete operational students did not profit from the instructional methods and results were not clear for early formal…