Attachment representations and self-confidence were assessed at age 7 on the basis of children's responses to a separation story and independent observations, although cognitive functioning was measured at ages 7-17 years based on a battery of Piagetian tasks assessing concrete and formal reasoning. Children with a secure attachment representation…

Investigated thinking patterns of fourth- and seventh-grade dyads collaborating on a projection of shadows task. Found that on average students gained in transformational reasoning but not in geometric description; however, the opposite was true for one quarter. Results suggest the need to take into account the plurality of goals, interests, and…

Pullout pages provide suggestions for teaching elementary students at all levels about the wonders of human ingenuity. The suggestions help students see that great ideas come from the need to solve real-life problems and that one great idea leads to another, so current inventions help predict future inventions. (SM)

Presents authentic assessment laboratory activities in which students measure the amount of sugar in bubble gum and test the lasting power of soap bubbles. Includes scoring rubrics. (MKR)

Describes the data collection and interpretation project of primary grade students involving predicting, graphing, estimating, measuring, number problem construction, problem solving, and probability. (MKR)

Two experiments examined fifth-grade students' reasoning about data modeling: one involved development of hypermedia documents, the other, use of a simple randomization distribution to test students' hypotheses. Found that data construction and analysis provide an opportunity to involve students in the important enterprise of mathematical…

Lists suggestions for improving experiments involving effects of various chemicals on Daphnia heart rate. Concludes that the real value of these experiments lies in what they teach about variations in the response of living things to chemicals and the difficulties researchers encounter when doing experiments with living things. (JRH)

Describes some preliminary results comparing two groups of children's performance on a set of Piagetian conservation tasks. Findings highlight the need to sensitize parents and teachers to current views on appropriate learning environments for young children, particularly the strategies they might use to make sense of their experiences. (TJQ)

Using hypothetical scenarios in which sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be transmitted, college freshmen and seniors were asked to explain why they believed the characters should or should nor engage in risky behaviors. Results indicated that seniors had a significantly higher stage of moral reasoning than the freshmen when responding to…

Discusses the spatial aspects of Greeno's model of conceptual domains and applies the theory to geometry learning. Examines the relationship between mathematical and spatial thinking in light of Greeno's environmental/spatial view of learning. (Contains 16 references.) (MDH)

Finds that African American college students actively processed information more and were more analytic than similar high school students. Finds that Caucasian American males in college were more people-oriented, Caucasian American female college students placed more emphasis on creativity, and Caucasian American college students were less…

Discusses the historical background of Bloom's Taxonomy. Asserts that the Taxonomy contains elements of sex bias. Describes Women's Ways of knowing along with a comparison of the perspectives and implications of both approaches. (CFR)

Refers to a literature review on reflection, focusing on strategies that assist its development in preservice programs. The paper then outlines an Australian research project that defined and applied reflection to an analysis of student writing. A framework for types of reflection as a basis for further research development is proposed. (Author/SM)

Describes how problem-based learning has been adapted for use in elementary and high school settings, including initiating learning with an ill-structured problem, using the problem to structure the learning agenda, and teacher as metacognitive coach. (31 references) (Author/MKR)

Results from 627 examinees taking a health sciences certification examination suggest that test items written purposefully to assess higher order cognitive skills do not provide evidence of assessing different levels of cognitive processing. Results do not support continuing use of a hierarchical cognitive classification dimension for the test…