The nature of cluster analysis and dendograms, subjects, tasks, and results of this study are described. Categories for problems were based on assumptions about the methods used by novice and expert problem solvers in a physics context. (CW)

Refutes the idea that critical thinking is not a skill by analyzing it from the phenomenological perspective of Edmund Husserl, and from the hermeneutic perspective of Martin Heidegger. Develops the thesis that critical thinking is a restructuring of schemata. Addresses the problem of attention or student engagement. (LS)

Identifies an induced incorrect generalization as a generative cause for the formation of misconception. Analyzes students' protocol of an exploratory learning experiment about the laws of reflection of light. Suggests recommendations for textbook, teaching, and practical work. (Author/YP)

Reports a study which identified different problem-solving strategies among Hong Kong high school chemistry students. Finds that student experts employed a recognition plus a working forwards strategy, whereas student novices attempted a means-end analysis to create a solution procedure. Comparisons were made with problem-solving in physics. (GG)

Presented are the results of an analysis of the cognitive stages of tenth-grade pupils using a six-week unit on the respiratory system. The research design, instruments, and data analysis are discussed. A variety of cognitive levels was found and may be related to learning outcomes. (CW)

Analyzes the concept of teaching from various aspects. Reviews research on students' conceptions of natural phenomena, conceptual change, and teacher thinking. Suggests an appropriate conception of teaching science. (YP)

Four experiments investigated children's ability to notice and remember events in which the acquisition of factual information occurs. Results indicated that children tend to report they have known newly learned information for a long time, suggesting that children have some understanding of knowledge acquisition, but not at the level of adults.…

Examined the nature of perceptual classification in children and young adults. Found that most children attend selectively to one stimulus dimension when making perceptual classification judgments. Suggests that this developmental trend does not appear to be a holistic-to-analytic shift but rather a trend toward greater consistency in following a…

Tested Cooper and Fazio's dissonance model. Subjects made arguments that were consistent or inconsistent with their attitudes and were provided feedback about consequences. Attitude-change effect only occurred when behaviors were both inconsistent and resulted in aversive consequences. Results suggest that cognitive inconsistency may be necessary…

Describes an exploratory study on the acquisition and use of knowledge representation skills and structures by sixth-graders, supported by a computer-based learning environment. Results indicated that symbolic structures can be taught successfully, and that students using them in the context of instructional tasks perform at the higher band of…

Considers the role of obligation in counselors' motivation to do their work. Observes that narrative practices related to the humanities, and to religious and spiritual traditions, may help counselors when obligation-based motivation is overwhelmed by the harsher elements of human nature and of the counseling profession. (RJM)

Delineates the current consensus regarding the nature and the development of intellectual ability. Examines when one would expect general abilities to moderate the relationship among domain-specific and other processes. Reviews recent studies in which general abilities were used as independent variables or covariates. Suggests that generally,…

Findings from several social science research studies support the view that knowledge is socially constructed and based on the experience and interpretation of events. Results of this study demonstrate that a multimethod approach has greater explanatory power when traditional and contructivist methods are combined. (Author/AEF)

Explores some speculative hypotheses on states of knowing and learning, and how these states and processes might be applied to artificial intelligence and expert systems development. (JKP)

Two experiments investigated perceptual primacy of dimensional and similarity relations in stimulus classification of mentally retarded children. Results support a distinction between separable and integral stimulus structures, but do not support an integral-to-separable shift in perceptual development. Results suggest implications for…