Compares the English modals "could,""might,""should,""ought to" and others with German "konnte,""durfte,""sollte,""mubte," referring to the diachronic perspective and using Reichenbach's (1947) grid of times and worlds. The article suggests that the variety of use of…

Children ages 3 to 5 years old are observed in a series of 3 experiments assessing their use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning. Results suggest that young children readily interpret the cause of an outcome in terms of a contrast between the observed sequence of events, and a counterfactual alternative in which the outcome did not…

Investigated development of reasoning about the teaching of values in school and family contexts among 8-, 10-, and 13-year olds and college students. Found that children and young adults' reasoning is multifaceted and distinguishes between moral values that reflect justice, rights, and moral character traits and other forms of desirable…

Considers the mind of the epistemic psychologist, a constructivist knowledge creator within a scientific framework, guided by the social world of scientific institutions. Suggests that Piaget and Vygotsky shared respect for complexity of phenomena and were consistently developmental in their theories. A reconsideration of their common heritage…

Discusses a methods kit for interactive problem-solving exercises in engineering education as well as a methodology for intelligent evaluation of solutions. The quality of a system teaching logistics thinking can be improved using artificial intelligence. Embedding a rule-based diagnosis module that evaluates the student's knowledge actively…

Traces the development of an open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), and outlines the nature of science framework that underlies the development of the VNOS. (Contains 63 references.) (DDR)

Reviews textbooks in use in the sixth-form classroom. Reports numerous examples of muddled facts, confusing explanations, and serious misconceptions. (DDR)

Investigated is the ability of high school pupils and university students to answer questions based on relationships within food webs using sound ecological principles. Research methods used and the results of this study are discussed. (CW)

Explores the extent to which third graders are consistent in their definitions and explanations of nine social qualities. For several qualities, children's definitions and explanations followed developmental predictions. For other qualities, definitions and explanations were attributed to previously identified moderation variables and age of…

Presented are four research articles and staff development activities. Included are: an activity used to stimulate discussion of the issue of balanced science; a constructivist approach to teaching electric circuits; a science grading scheme; and a discussion of priorities in science education. (CW)

Investigated 48 preschool, kindergarten, and first grade children's use of perceptual and taxonomic memory organization strategies. Addressed age differences in qualities, coordination, and effectiveness of study and retrieval organization strategies, and age and individual differences in relationships between memory knowledge and strategy use.…

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)