This paper describes the development of a sixth-grade "Matter and Molecules" unit using a new curriculum development model based on conceptual change research, the field testing of this unit in 15 classrooms and the field test results. The development process and the resulting unit are contrasted with the unit's predecessor, the "Models of Matter"…

A study investigated the known phenomenon of "intermediate effect" in which medical students with an intermediate amount of knowledge and experience demonstrate higher amounts of recall of the text of a medical case than either experienced clinicians or novices. In this study the amount of activation of prior knowledge was controlled by…

Focusing on the impact of advertisers' persuasive selling messages on consumers, this paper discusses topics relating to the theory of psychological type congruence. Based on an examination of persuasion theory and relevant psychological concepts, including recent cognitive stability and personality and needs theory and the older concept of…

This paper takes the position that logical knowledge is distinct from conceptual and procedural knowledge and can make a unique contribution to the understanding of knowledge acquisition. This view of logical knowledge departs from the traditional Piagetian view of stages and the overriding view of logic as the sole means of constructing new…

Years of research have shown that student learning is based on cognitive development. This finding has implications for the teaching of vocational education, especially to marginal students who are potential dropouts. Research has shown that students who have an internal rather than an external locus of control and who are more field independent…

A survey was administered in 1979 to people whose occupations involved them in various aspects of rural mental health services; its purpose was to collect information for the development of approaches for improving the transfer of information in applied research fields. Using a variety of sources to identify potential study members (researchers,…

An investigation explored whether preadolescent children have developed self-schemata which serve in making judgments about trait behavior for both self and others. Seventeen males and 23 females between the ages of 10 and 11 who attended a public elementary school on Long Island were interviewed. Children rated themselves relative to classmates…

Recent research in cognitive science and science education suggests that science-naive individuals have an understanding of the natural world based on their interpretation of everyday experience. This can make the process of conceptual change difficult. This paper presents ideas related to the acquisition of knowledge in astronomy. A theoretical…

The concept of a qualitative model is used as the focus of this review of qualitative student models in order to compare alternative computational models and to contrast domain requirements. The report is divided into eight sections: (1) Origins and Goals (adaptive instruction, qualitative models of processes, components of an artificial…

This study consolidated observations of teachers in an institute setting designed to facilitate science learning content through performing science processes and asking questions related to self-perceived conceptual difficulties. The subjects were 11 elementary school teachers from a school district in Northeast Florida; they were enrolled in a…

This paper reports the latest in a series of studies on the impact of a multicultural education course for preservice teachers. The course is based on a conceptual model of multicultural teacher education that includes four interactive goals: (1) to develop multiple historical perspectives and cultural consciousness; (2) to develop intercultural…

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a considerable amount of research was conducted on methods for authoring and structuring instructional materials by researchers who did not, at that time, have access to the existing delivery systems necessary to fully implement their ideas. One of these methodologies is Structural Communications, developed by…

The Educational Technology Center (ETC) Complex Systems Project was initiated to explore ways of using computers to help students understand systems which have often proven too complex for most high school students to understand. Preliminary work concentrated on the cognitive processes involved in modeling simple systems. This paper describes an…

Developing a constructivist view of scientific inquiry and knowledge is considered to be important to the training of future scientists, as well as to the understanding of scientific information by all citizens. The research reported targets the junior high school grades. Curricular materials that introduce seventh graders to the constructivist…

This booklet profiles five elementary school teachers who were selected as the 1988-89 Laboratory Fellows by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands. The Teacher Recognition Program conducted through the Small Schools Network of the Laboratory seeks to recognize outstanding teachers of thinking and…