The main aim of this research is to examine the effect of an instructional design based on the Algo-Heuristic Theory of Instruction (AHTI) on students' mathematics performance and logical thinking skills in the subject of 7th grade mathematics. The research is grounded in a mixed method. In the quantitative part of the research, a…

Promoting students' ability to engage in discipline-specific practices is a central goal of chemistry education. Yet if instruction is to meaningfully foster such ability, we must first understand students' reasoning during these practices. By characterizing constraints on chemistry students' reasoning, we can design instruction that targets this…

One of the foundational subjects comprising most Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs is an introductory accounting course, in which students are exposed to the study of financial and management accounting at a basic level. For many students accounting is arguably the most feared subject in the MBA program. Although some students…

Metacognition can be described as an internal conversation that seeks to answer the questions, "how much do I really know about what I am learning" and, "how am I monitoring what I am learning?" Metacognitive regulation skills are critical to meaningful learning because they facilitate the abilities to recognize the times when…

This paper reports a study on the effect of using the Lakatosian heuristic method to teach the surface area of a cone (SAC) on students' achievement according to Bloom's taxonomy levels. Two groups of students (experimental and control) participated in the study. The experimental group (n = 20) was taught using the Lakatosian heuristic method…

The characterization of students' reasoning strategies is of central importance in the development of instructional strategies that foster meaningful learning. In particular, the identification of shortcut reasoning procedures (heuristics) used by students to reduce cognitive load can help us devise strategies to facilitate the development of more…

The characterization of students' cognitive biases is of central importance in the development of curriculum and teaching strategies that better support student learning in science. In particular, the identification of shortcut reasoning procedures (heuristics) used by students to reduce cognitive load can help us devise strategies to foster the…

In the history of mankind three important philosophical and scientific revolutions have taken place. The first of these revolutions was the mathematical-axiomatic revolution in ancient Greece, when the philosophers from Thales of Miletus to Archimedes built up the abstract deductive method used in pure mathematics. The second took place in the…

A heuristic procedure can be used to teach organizational skills to students of technical writing. Designed to allow students on their own to explore ways that numbers can be used to give a definite shape to technical information, its central feature is a matrix composed of a series of control numbers (horizontal axis) and organizing concerns…

Summarizes research that contrasts the approaches and attitudes of successful and unsuccessful problem solvers. Supplies a categorized list of problem solver characteristics. (RT)

Presents three problems that help students develop a repertoire of heuristics and persistence in problem solving: the water-jug problem; the missionaries-and-cannibals problem; and the census-taker problem. Discusses methods to encourage students to persist. (MDH)

Examines various types of problems that researchers have used to demonstrate problem solving. Focuses on genetics problems. Discusses classes of learning outcomes, conceptual knowledge gains, content-independent heuristics, content-specific procedures, understanding the nature of science and a typology of genetics problems. (CW)

Presents an experimental primary trait rubric designed to assess a writer's support for an argument, and structured as an eleven-cell grid on which a rater can plot a student's score. Describes the grid, and its use in a study of 1,892 eleventh-grade essays. Also describes ways to use the grid to teach invention and arrangement. (JG)