This paper examines the cognitive processes associated with higher-order thinking strategies--i.e., cognitive processes directly associated with the employment of knowledge in the service of problem solving and creativity--in order to more clearly define a prescribed instructional method to improve problem-solving skills. The first section of the…

This 27-item bibliography represents the variety of articles added to the ERIC database from 1983 through 1988 on left-brain/right-brain research, theory, and application as it relates to classroom incorporation. Included are conflicting opinions as to the usefulness of left-brain/right-brain studies and their application in the learning…

John Dewey proposed a transactive educational process in which personal experiences and development interacted with curriculum in order to transform the learner and the learning procedure. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate ways in which some of Dewey's concepts of progressive education provide a theoretical rationale for the increasing…

Students enrolled in classes which stressed learning theory and human development served as subjects in an investigation of the predictive power of observation scores compared to more traditional predictors such as grade point average and ACT scores. A stepwise discriminant analysis was employed, using the BMDP7B program on the Sperry 1100 Univac,…

During the period 1984-1986, over 30 teachers from the Yorkshire (England) region have worked in collaboration with the Children's Learning in Science Project (CLIS) developing and testing teaching schemes in the areas of energy, particle theory, and plant nutrition. The project is based upon the constructivist approach to teaching. This guide…

British students in four age groups--4 to 5, 7 to 8, 11 to 12, and 15 to 16 years old--were observed in their classrooms in order to explore the relationships among the learner, knowledge, and thinking, and the role that writing plays in what is learned. In the infant classroom, writing was quite visible in the form of labels, questions,…

This document presents research studies/findings and provides a developing point of view on adolescent thought. The first chapter discusses the nature and definitions of thinking. The second and third chapters discuss frameworks for adolescent thought (focusing on the Gestalt school, Geneva school, and accelerated learning) and survey studies on…

The papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, and viewpoints of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading theories, research, and processes. The collection begins with an address by the president of the National Reading Conference concerning the tools for reading researchers. The remaining 53 articles…

Ideas of educational psycholinguists Frank Smith and Kenneth Goodman can be combined with the ideas presented in current basal reader manuals to help teachers teach reading more effectively. Since reading and speaking are parallel processes, teachers may invite children to "read" with them, hearing the melody of language as they point to…

This report on the Adult Math Skills Project includes sections on theory, empirical studies, and their implications. Section 1 presents an overview, noting that activity and setting are seen as mutually creating, sustaining, and changing the nature of problem solving. The empirical studies involved: (1) arithmetic practices among grocery shoppers;…

This paper contends that efforts at educational reform must focus, above all, on the instructional encounter between teachers and students. The argument is presented in triadic sequence: three basic assumptions about learning, three interrelated models of the instructional process, and three practical approaches to promoting cognitive achievement.…

Connections between recent developments in theories about language, learning theory, and language teaching are traced from Chomsky's work elaborating the distinction between competence and performance. The evolution of the concepts of function and notion from the study of how language and communication come together in linguistic philosophy is…

This paper presents a basis for judging the merits and shortcomings of computer software for vocational education and contains a comprehensive evaluation tool for educational software. The historical development of computer hardware and software as used in education is addressed. A discussion of the evaluation of educational software stresses the…

This paper reports on a study conducted to clarify issues involving reward effects in children's probability learning; specifically, the detrimental-effects-of-reward theory, and the utility and expectancy theories. Five event schedules in which the probabilistic versus partial reinforcement dimension was separated from the number of choices in…

A four-year longitudinal study of concept attainment and uses of concepts, as specified by the Conceptual Learning and Development Model, is described. Data collected during the first two years were based upon the assessment of the concept, equilateral triangle. The assessment battery was administered to 351 children (grades K, 3, 6, and 9) in…