Two heuristic and three rigorous arguments are given for the fact that functions of the form Ce[kx], with C an arbitrary constant, are the only solutions of the equation dy/dx=ky where k is constant. Various of the proofs in this self-contained note could find classroom use in a first-year calculus course, an introductory course on differential…

The "fast and frugal" approach to reasoning (Gigerenzer, G., & Todd, P. M. (1999). "Simple heuristics that make us smart." New York: Oxford University Press) claims that individuals use non-compensatory strategies in judgment--the idea that only one cue is taken into account in reasoning. The simplest and most important of these heuristics…

How has GOOGLE shaped knowledge? How has it shaped those who use it? This article considers the impact of online knowledge upon the content of knowledge and upon the people who seek it and create it. The authors suggest that 1. Google-ization is reshaping knowledge. 2. Google-ization is changing how knowledge counts as important. 3. Google-ization…

Changing the culture of the community college is central in the journey to become learning institutions. The culture of an organization is made up of the assumptions held by its members, and some of these have to change if the necessary transformation is to occur. Recent research on change suggests this can best be achieved if the people in the…

Three experiments are reported examining the effect of context on remember-know judgments. In Experiments 1 and 2, medium-frequency words were intermixed with high-frequency or low-frequency words at study or at test, respectively. Remember responses were greater for medium-frequency targets when they were studied or tested among high-frequency,…

This article presents 3 studies that examine how students and experts employ mental rotation and a learned heuristic to solve chemistry tasks that involve spatial information. Results from Study 1 indicate that despite instruction in analytical strategies, students choose to employ mental rotation on canonical assessment tasks. In Study 2, experts…

The commentary argues for an understanding of how texts are put together that accounts for multimodality and draws on children's ways of being and doing in the home, their "habitus". It focuses on identities as socially situated. It argues that it is important to trace the process of sedimenting identities during text production. This offers a way…

The authors examined the methodologies of articles in teaching-and-learning research journals, published in 1994 and in 2004, and classified them as either intervention (based on researcher-manipulated variables) or nonintervention. Consistent with the findings of Hsieh et al., intervention research articles declined from 45% in 1994 to 33% in…

The best research studies are more noteworthy for the issues they raise than for the questions they answer. Being informative is good; being heuristic is better. The two papers under consideration are heuristic as well as informative. Thus, Wong, Kasari, Freeman, and Paparella (2007) provide an answer to the question of what might influence the…

In many European mountain areas, including the Swiss Alps, agriculture has been on the decline in the last decades. This has led to changes in land use, landscape and biodiversity; changes which are perceived, explained and valued by people in different ways. In this paper, the views of local stakeholders in the Surses valley, Switzerland…

Intuition usually is defined as the capability to act or decide appropriately without deliberately and consciously balancing alternatives, without following a certain rule or routine, and possibly without awareness (Gigerenzer, 2007; Hogarth, 2001; Klein, 2003; Myers, 2002). It allows action which is quick (e.g. reaction to a challenging…

The main argument of this article is that human living systems are open, dynamic, intentional systems and, therefore, are capable of building ever more complex behaviors through self-organization and self-direction. This principle underlying general human development is also applicable to the development of gifted and talented behaviors. These…

Sustaining and strengthening tribal cultures, languages and traditions is at the core of every tribal college's mission statement. To help attain these goals, many colleges use one of Indian Country's greatest assets--its elders. Traditionally, elders hold a place of honor in American Indian society. Without cultural input from elders,…

Two studies were conducted to show connections between giftedness and intuition. The first study was exploratory. A sample of 194 gifted adolescent students (N=194) included fifty-five students identified as gifted by their teachers and fifty-six percent who were female. Using the Polish version of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the students…

Conventional assessments do not meet the cognitive demands of the world today. WICS, an acronym for wisdom, intelligence, and creativity, synthesized, can provide a more meaningful model. Findings from the Rainbow Project, conducted by the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise, showed that assessing students for…