Describes an approach which helps sixth-grade students become excited about word problems. By using the approach (which involves categorizing a problem before solving it), students master skills in the problem and also develop more positive attitudes toward solving problems. The approach is equally applicable to any intermediate/junior high grade…

Reports two studies that explored the uses of videotape in helping students identify desired interview behaviors and gain feedback about their personal competence in employment and problem-solving interviews. (PD)

Reviews the structure of intelligent computer assisted instruction (ICAI) systems, gives some examples of such systems, and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses. Four references are listed. (MBR)

Provides a simplified, synoptic overview of the area of thermodynamics, enumerating and explaining the four basic laws, and introducing the mathematics involved in a stepwise fashion. Discusses such basic tools of thermodynamics as enthalpy, entropy, Helmholtz free energy, and Gibbs free energy, and their uses in problem solving. (JM)

Discusses a computer program requiring students to find an object on a grid by using location coordinates. The program, which provides a wide range of problem-solving activities, is a highly motivating approach to hands-on metric measurement, rounding off numbers, and plotting points on Cartesian coordinate systems. Includes complete program…

Reports on a study of how older, Black women coped with racial and sex prejudice and/or institutional discrimination. Suggests that selected situational variables and personal factors interact and determine coping style, and that in some contexts, a less direct coping strategy may be more effective. (Author/ML)

An examination of the origin and content of general systems theory is followed by identification of the major characteristics of systems and brief discussion of use of models. Two ways of applying a systems model are identified and their appropriateness is assessed in relation to particular training circumstances. (55 references). (Author/MBR)

Describes information-processing research, showing how computer models are used to explain thinking and how information processing approaches can be used systematically. Clarifies why students find factor-label method so difficult to master and discusses guidelines and suggestions for using information-processing ideas. (JM)

An approach to teaching the exponential function using discrete methods, rather than continuous analysis, is presented. A model for simple geometric growth is explored, with a computer program given. (MNS)

Based on 84 questionnaires returned of 160 mailed in 1983 to 41 states and two educational service agencies, this study provides extensive charts on public relations activities in school districts of all sizes and in eight specific areas, including school board policy, news sources, and district/news media relations. (JBM)

Describes an audiovisual teaching unit on the chemical laboratory technique of recrystallization which was developed along problem-solving lines and based on observation of student laboratory behavior. Discussion includes usual procedures for developing such units, how this unit solves problems typically associated with teaching, and its general…

Conclusions about the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students on mathematics exercises are reported and illustrated with exercises from the 1973, 1978, and 1982 National Assessment of Educational Progress. (RH)

Discusses several recommendations for the mathematics curriculum, focusing on problem solving, understanding, several content topics, and topic integration and placement. Groups that influence the curriculum, and ways they can do so, are also discussed. (RH)

Relations among aptitude, spatial task solution strategy, and task performance were explored through mathematical models of performance latency. Different models fit different subjects on each of three task steps (encoding, synthesis, and comparison), suggesting that different subjects used different strategies for solving the same items. Aptitude…

Evaluates fourth-to seventh-grade children on two aspects of social cognition: interpersonal understanding and means-ends problem-solving ability. Relates the two variables to sex, age, IQ, social class, and multiple dimensions of competence. Both variables significantly correlated with I.Q. while interpersonal understanding also correlated with…