Although abstraction is widely understood to be one of the primary components of computational thinking, the roots of abstraction may be traced back to different fields. Hence, the meaning of abstraction in the context of computational thinking is often confounded, as researchers interpret abstraction through diverse lenses. To disentangle these…

This article offers an overview of the nature and role of relational thinking and relational reasoning in human learning and performance, both of which pertain to the discernment of meaningful patterns within any informational stream. Distinctions between thinking and reasoning relationally are summarized, along with specific forms of patterning…

Research developments in cognitive psychology, and their implications for teaching and learning at the level of professional education, are summarized. Areas discussed include organization of long-term memory, influences on storage and retrieval from memory, problem solving and transfer/use of analogy, concept formation/categorization/pattern…