This report summarizes findings on strategies chosen by students (n=38) when solving algebra problems related to various functions with the freedom to use a TI-83 graphing calculator, influences on student problem-solving strategy choices, student ability to approach algebra problems with use of multiple representations, and student beliefs on how…

A software application called HyperStory is a reading program for short fiction which has proved to be effective in the classroom. In 3 years of use, over 300 students have tried it out. Part of the reason for its suitability for helping students develop short story reading skills lies in the relationship between the computer technology known as…

This report details the data requirements and procedures used to develop new school bus routes for Six Mile Elementary School in South Carolina. The project examined the current routes of the school and applied computer based techniques to develop new routes given the existing bus stops. Bus routes were developed so that distance and travel time…

The research question addressed in this study was: "How do the problem-solving heuristic processes used by preservice elementary teachers who are more effective problem solvers differ from those used by less effective problem solvers?" Three more- and three less-effective problem solvers performed a card sorting task designed to determine if…

This manual describes Version 4 of Soar, an architecture for problem solving and learning based on heuristic search and chunking. Version 4 is available as of January 1986 in Common Lisp, Franz-Lisp, Interlisp, and Zeta-Lisp. An introduction to the Soar system is presented, and information is provided about the following system aspects: (1) data…

The topic of teaching troubleshooting is examined as an example of the teaching of cognitive strategies for technical problem solving. The traditional behavioral approach to teaching troubleshooting has essentially been algorithmic. Recent cognitive research suggests an approach founded first on task analysis and characterized by: (1) analysis of…

As a demonstration of the application of heuristic devices to decision-theoretical techniques, an interactive computer program known as MAUD (Multiattribute Utility Decomposition) has been designed to support decision or choice problems that can be decomposed into component factors, or to act as a tool for investigating the microstructure of a…

The paper presents and demonstrates a heuristic for helping students learn how to read and understand figuration in literature. The heuristic contains elements from linguistics, New Criticism, and rhetorical analysis in a recursive process which enables students to see how features of words combine into figurative patterns. Beginning at the level…

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that people often overestimate the similarity between characteristics of random samples and those of the populations from which they are drawn. This paper: reviews studies that have attempted to determine whether the basic heuristic employed in thinking about random samples is passive and descriptive…

A problem-solving method of teaching was used in the recitation sections of a freshmen chemistry course for science and engineering majors at Purdue University. The method was based on prior research which revealed that good problem solvers formed better representations and used heuristics more often than poor problem solvers. Consequently, the…

The goal of problem-solving education should be to develop tools for thinking that will constitute a shell or framework of action procedures that can be applied on an ever-changing database. These tools come in the form of heuristics that can be modified and adapted to new situations. (Author/MLW)

This discussion of formative evaluation as part of the instructional design process focuses on developmental testing and expert review. A review of the literature helps define each approach, research on formative evaluation is reviewed, and 37 references are provided. (LRW)

Proposes a model for the revision process that recognizes that (1) reading and writing during revision are related; (2) a relationship exists between revision and the writer's knowledge of the subject, audience, and style; (3) revision strategies are based on heuristics; and (4) revision is involved in the recursive nature of the composing…

The contextual determination of cognitive activities was investigated in a primary school naturalistic experiment. Performance at a group level on an elementary arithmetic task is influenced by the immediate context. Use of analogies as heuristic aids and the functional meaning of the task as a pedagogical praxis are assessed. (TJH)

Similarities between Enaction Theory of Thinking and the Enrichment Triad Model lend theoretical validity to the Triad Model as a method to facilitate gifted students' thinking or problem solving. The relationships between mental models and Type I Enrichment, operators and Type II Enrichment, and heuristics and Type III enrichment are illustrated.…