Introduces puzzles that proved challenging and popular in the Mexican Chemistry Olympiad. Presents data showing that mainstream general chemistry students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln enjoyed the puzzles and were challenged by them. (WRM)

Two studies examined abstract conditional reasoning. Findings indicated an increase in use of formal justifications with grade, and that abstract reasoning was facilitated by realistic context. Findings supported the idea that such reasoning may represent a qualitative change in reasoning abilities and that its development relies on appropriate…

Discusses the importance of public speech in society, noting the power of public speech to create a world and a public. The paper offers a theory of public speech, identifies types of public speech, and types of public speech fallacies. Two ways of speaking of the public and of public life are distinguished. (SM)

Argues for a paradigm shift to consciously developing, nurturing, and applying critical thinking skills in counseling supervision. Suggests supervisors will benefit from the intentionality of the paradigm, supervisees will benefit from the mentoring and the modeling, and clients will benefit as the supervisors progress in their delivery as…

Outlines the differences between inferences and assumptions in critical thinking processes. Explains that as students develop critical intuitions, they increasingly notice how their point of view shapes their experiences. (AUTH/NB)

What science-related knowledge is actually used by nurses in their day-to-day clinical reasoning when attending patients? The study investigated the knowledge-in-use of six acute-care nurses in a hospital surgical unit. It was found that the nurses mainly drew upon their professional knowledge of nursing and upon their procedural understanding…

For the past two decades, a growing amount of research has shown that the use of analogies in science teaching and learning promotes meaningful understanding of complex scientific concepts (Gentner, [1983]; Glynn, [1989]; Harrison & Treagust, [1993]; Wong, [1993]). This article presents a study in which multiple analogies were used as scaffolding…

This study extends previous research examining the relations between Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities and math achievement. The cognitive profiles of children with normative weaknesses in Math Calculation Skills or Math Reasoning were compared to those of their average-achieving peers. The cognitive profile of the low Math Calculation…

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the…

This research examined individual difference and contextual effects on the disciplinary behavior of a representative sample of 296 parents. Both the use of power assertion and inductive reasoning were found to be higher when the child's behavior violated a moral compared to a conventional principle, and in response to deliberate versus accidental…

This article contains a small selection of mathematical fiction chosen with the teaching of mathematics in secondary school in mind. However, an attempt is made to classify the works and provide a few ideas about how these items may be used by mathematics teachers, sometimes, but not necessarily, in collaboration with science and humanities…

The relationship between moral judgment and religious knowledge was investigated, with an analysis of the impact of academic skill on both domains. Fifty-six Bible college seniors completed measures of moral judgment (Defining Issues Test), Bible knowledge (Standardized Bible Content Test), and academic skill (Academic Profile). Results indicate…

Recursion is a central concept in computer science, yet it is difficult for beginners to comprehend. Israeli high-school students learn recursion in the framework of a special modular program in computer science (Gal-Ezer & Harel, 1999). Some of them are introduced to the concept of recursion in two different paradigms: the procedural…

Elementary school children's moral reasoning concerning physical and relational aggression was explored. Fourth and fifth graders rated physical aggression as more wrong and harmful than relational aggression but tended to adopt a moral orientation about both forms of aggression. Gender differences in moral judgments of aggression were observed,…

Working from the 1970s to the early 1990s, Walter Alvarez and his research team sought the cause of the mass extinction that claimed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The present paper discusses that research in terms of eight puzzling observations, eight episodes of hypothetico-predictive reasoning, enumerative induction, and Jung's…