Investigated were the connotative meanings of the concept "development" in respondents' cognitive structure using a free-association approach. The sample included 6th, 9th, and 11th grade students, student-teachers, and biology teachers. Reports a paucity of multicontextuality; the majority of subjects' associations referred to biology…

Describes a study that examined the effect of academic background on users' perceptions of information needs and their expressions of those needs to library or information services. The implications for the role of academic background in the cognitive models of information users and for the provision of information service in interdisciplinary…

Explained are differences in communication, perception, arousal, and motivation for both teaching and learning styles. Experiential education is distinguished from experiential learning, and salient educational strategies are integrated into the educational cycle. (Author/CW)

Examined are tenth-grade Western Australian students' conceptual knowledge of gravity and the motion of the planets. Students were interviewed with seven cards, and a four-item diagnostic test based on the interview data on the first four cards was developed. A total of 113 students' responses to the test are summarized. (YP)

Described is the generative learning strategy, an approach which encourages pupils to discuss their out-of-school ideas about plant breathing, drinking, wood production, soil, minerals, and leaves, and assist them in linking appropriate ideas together to form an explanation of the origin of plant materials. (CW)

Describes the use of brain models to connect the microscopic level accessible by molecular and cellular techniques with the systems level accessible by the study of behavior. Discusses classes of brain models, and specific examples of such models. Evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of using brain modelling to understand human brain function.…

Examines the place of mental models in the process of knowledge construction, particularly by the relationship between mental models and computer models in that process. Analyzes and discusses children's use of spreadsheets to build their own computer models. Suggests that the process of building models on a computer may provide direct support to…

Suggests study by Kuhn and others (PS 524 345) is too ambitious and that the processes described are not wholly representative of developmental stages. Argues the methodology of study was progressive problem solving, and that experimenter's questions resulted in contrived stages. (JW)

Compares the effects on the knowledge structure of the learners of using two different Mindtools--semantic networks and rule-based expert systems--for representing the content of a course. Results showed that students in the semantic network class possessed more hierarchical knowledge structures than the other group. (Contains 29 references.) (JLB)

Sixty elementary students with learning disabilities were interviewed about parallel domains of uncontested and contested knowledge on the topic of space, including questions of morality and questions of empirical law. Students clearly distinguished between uncontested and contested knowledge, suggesting that they are capable of working with…

Investigated the continuous fraction concepts of (n=59) students in grades four, five, and six. Students were confident and accurate when performing sharing tasks, but were much less successful on continuous quantity tasks involving formal fraction language and symbol manipulation fraction tasks. (14 references) (Author/MKR)

Contrasts interpretive and cognitive approaches to explaining teachers' thoughts and actions, exploring epistemological and ontological assumptions that underlie research on teaching. Cognition is discussed as individual mental processing versus a social event in which thinking is shared, intersubjective, and practical. The influence of the place…

Considered stereotype change within a framework of dual process models. Using three experiments, manipulated task involvement, source credibility, and message quality. Findings proved dual process as appropriate when considering the processing of stereotype-disconfirming information and processing's impact on existing stereotypes. Different…

Examines retrieval theory in terms of free-text searching, citation analysis, and knowledge synthesis, and supports the claim that topical relevance relationships are not primarily matching relationships. Suggests that the assumption of topic matching between user needs and texts topically relevant to those needs is often erroneous. (51…

Presented is an alternative method for analyzing the van Hiele level of students' geometrical reasoning. The accuracy of students' answers may afford a description of acquisition and/or expertise for each of the van Hiele levels simultaneously rather than the traditional assignment and evaluation of one level at a time. (JJK)