This study sought to find out whether concept mapping reduces anxiety and thereby enhances achievement in biology. A total of 51 grade-10 students participated in the experiment. Findings indicate concept mapping is significantly more effective than traditional teaching in enhancing learning in biology and reducing student anxiety toward biology.…

(PR)

Reports results of interviews in which students were asked to illustrate three interpretations of fractions: a unit subdivided into equal-sized parts; a set subdivided into equal-sized parts; and a ratio. Two areas of difficulty in giving reasonable representations are discussed. Proposes teaching suggestions to overcome these difficulties. (MDH)

Children's responses to an alternative model over three lessons were described and their learning assessed in a posttest. Their responses and performances were compared to that of a similar group of children learning through a conventional number line model. The two models were compared from practical and theoretical viewpoints. (Author/CW)

Asserts that, in modern society, knowledge, higher education, and society act upon each other as separate forces. Examines and compares critical theory and postmodernism and their impact on higher education. Concludes that the differences between these two frameworks as interpretations of higher education can be reconciled. (CFR)

Empirical validation of the first-order and higher-order factor structures of the structure-of-intellect (SOI) model was provided by reanalysis of a database of 39 measures administered to 178 Coast Guard Cadets. Results suggest that SOI could be reconceptualized as a pyramid-like hierarchical theory of intelligence. (SLD)

Describes a theoretical framework for the analysis of conceptual change that considers conceptual knowledge as a generative cognitive tool for the creation of more specific mental representations. Argues that a task-oriented interaction between propositional structures and mental models can help learners evaluate the consistency of their…

Extends a theoretical framework for designing effective information services by synthesizing and integrating theory and research derived from multiple approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. These frameworks are applied to develop general design strategies and principles for information systems and services that rely on complex…

Explored 4- and 5-year-old immigrant and nonimmigrant children's words and silences when they were asked about similarities and differences among 4 ethnic dolls. Found that skin color was salient in children's thought processes about appearance and identity. Recommended that educators listen to children's voices and silences to help children build…

Incidents of racially motivated violence have inspired many colleges and universities to enact discriminatory harassment policies. Little work has been done, however, to explore the cognitive structures (or structures of expectation) informing relations between groups. This research used interviews and group sessions to examine the nature of race…

Psychologists and educators have struggled to understand the devastating influence of racial intolerance on children, on their personality development, and on their academic growth. The emotional and cognitive elements that underlie racial intolerance, along with its theoretical underpinnings, are examined in this paper. It is believed that five…

This monograph examines three approaches to intelligence that include cognitive processing components and relates each to assessment and interventions with students having reading disabilities. The first, Sternberg's Triarchic theory of intelligence (1985), includes three subtheories, contextual, experiential, and componential. The second, the…

A quasi-experimental study explored the effect of functional flow diagrams on technical system understanding. An individualized field training package which contained schematic diagrams that illustrated an aircraft's electrical system was complimented with functional flow diagrams. In a 4-week treatment, a control group of 10 students enrolled in…

Students lacking formal training in physics have great difficulty predicting the paths of various projectiles. With respect to pendulum-bobs that are released from various points in a swing, a previous experiment found that empirical feedback (i.e., resultant trajectories) produced transfer-of-training to other pendular-based tasks. However, such…

This essay is an examination of the efficacy of group methods in the facilitation of learning. It describes and characterizes two learning experiences and reports the findings on some unconventional educational methods. It provides a summary of six principles of learning and reviews some essential literature which compares a variety of teaching…