Using a paper-and-pencil test consisting of multiple-choice situational questions which also require reasoning for the choices made, common misconceptions in light were identified. It was found that most of the students understand the basic properties of light at a knowledge level but had difficulty applying these concepts in novel situations.…

Seventeen college undergraduates, possessing either basic or consolidated formal operations, received eight weeks of interpersonal skills training and pre- and posttraining assessments of social perspective taking and moral reasoning. Gains in moral reasoning were related to subjects' possessing prerequisite cognitive and perspective-taking…

Offers a model for critical dialogue, an approach which uses students' background knowledge and experiences to build basic and higher order thinking skills needed to learn content. (PRA)

Presents a study of problem-solving activities in a hypermedia representation of a theorem-proving problem. Qualitative analyses of user activities and responses to questions asked while using a system called HUGH&ME are described. The need for hypermedia-based tools to support expression and refinement of reasoning during problem solving is…

Describes research on the intellectual impacts of education programs at a public two-year college and a four-year research university. Finds no significant differences in skill gains between the two- and four-year samples after controlling for precollege cognitive skills, age, and work obligations. (18 citations). (MAB)

Finds that rural middle-secondary classroom teachers expect a reading program that is highly compact and content focused and which will replace remediation. Suggests that trained content/reading specialists are needed to promote critical thinking and workplace literacy skills. Offers recommendations for establishing a pragmatic reading agenda for…

Examines research literature and schematic models associated with the expert-novice model in cognitive psychology. Describes a model for rendering expertise in problem solving within economics. Reports that a preliminary study indicates that this model effectively rendered both expert and novice problem solving in economics. (CFR)

Paper explores the use of an intelligence test in a southwestern university. Honor students performed significantly better than the average freshmen and the developmental/remedial students. Results suggest that developmental students lack specific cognitive abilities as well as some higher order thinking skills. Implications are discussed. (RJM)

Comparison of 107 kindergarten children who either were or were not in a gifted program and received or did not receive special training in synectics (a strategy to facilitate creative thinking) found significant improvement in creativity scores for experimental but not control groups but not more for gifted than for nongifted children. (Author/DB)

Two experiments involved an intelligent tutoring system for the Carnegie Mellon University Lisp Tutor using production system theories of transfer and analogical problem solving. Results suggested that acquisition of cognitive skills is facilitated by high degrees of metacognition, which includes higher level monitoring of states of knowledge,…

The planning and organization of problem-solving workshops for teachers are discussed. Suggestions for activities and anecdotes of teacher participation at workshops are provided. (CW)

U.S. college educator describes his experience visiting a prestigious kindergarten in Nanjing, China, noting his response to the Chinese learning style versus the Western learning style. (SM)

Discusses a study of student discourse in a Masters of Business Administration program. Fall interviews produced three distinct types of self-reflective stories. Winter interviews produced two types of stories. Student reflective thinking was collective, not individual; few story types were in use, and they were tightly interwoven. (SM)

A correlation matrix of 21 structure-of-intellect (SOI) tests taken by 204 Marine officers at a military base in Southern California, which was intended to reflect aptitudes for military leadership, was reanalyzed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis. Higher order factors appeared to have…

Three activities in which students identify and demonstrate similarities and differences in plants and in plant growth are presented. The activities include background information, objectives for the tree ring activities, a list of needed materials, procedures, evaluation procedures, and a glossary. (KR)