To investigate the hypothesis that cognitive rules govern writing behavior, Carter's signaled stopping technique was used to study language and cognitive effects in public relations messages. Principles from Grunig, et al (1985) Axiomatic Theory of Cognition and Writing, which proposed premises, axioms and definitions about writing, were applied…

The conceptions of information needs of seven American and seven Swedish mechanics employed by a Swedish multinational machine industry are compared by using perspective text analysis to analyze their verbal responses to three open-ended questions concerning their need for work-related information. The structures embedded in the texts are…

Designed to focus attention on the design process in such computer science activities as information systems design, database design, and expert systems design, this paper examines three main phases of the design process: understanding the context of the problem, identifying the problem, and finding a solution. The processes that these phases…

This paper suggests that instruction in general and lecturing in particular are too often characterized by dogmatic approaches to content definition and selection. The methods employed by many teachers tend to suggest to students that the teacher is the primary source of knowledge in a given subject area, that answers are either right or wrong,…

Perspectives on the need for consistency in considering the promotion of conceptual change in science students and teachers (and in some circumstances, researchers) are presented in this paper. The parallels between the consequences of this consistency and the literature on educational change are also highlighted. A particular focus is directed to…

This report discusses the role of affect in cognitive processing. The importance of affect in processing mathematical information is described in the context of solving arithmetic story problems. Some ideas are offered about the way affective responses to mathematical problem solving situations influence the development, maintenance, and retrieval…

A constructivist analysis of the concepts of communication and environment may go against the traditional ideas of realists. Both concepts are treated as subjective constructs of a cognizing agent. It is held that the basis of the constructivist theory of knowing as the idea that knowledge is a mapping of ways of acting and thinking and the result…

The hypothesized relationship between counseling skill and cognitive functioning has immense implications for counselor education. This study was conducted to develop and field test a procedure for depicting change in cognitive structure across time and to investigate the relationship between changes in cognitive structure and counseling skill.…

This examination of the application of the products and processes of science to the field of education argues that education is entrenched in an outdated scientific mode--that of a Newtonian model--and proposes a more contemporary model of relativity which purports that wholes cannot be broken into parts, that variables are not isolatable but…

This research investigates the development of analogy, in particular, the study of the development of systematicity in analogy. Systematicity refers to the mapping of systems of mutually constraining relations, such as causal chains or chains of implication. A preference for systematic mappings is a central aspect of analogical processing in…

There has long been dispute in mathematics between the drill and practice orientation that focuses primarily on memorizing mathematics as meaningless rote algorithms and the approach based on understanding and making creative use of mathematics. This 25-chapter book, based on a 7-year study at the University of Illinois, seeks to explain and…

How different institutions conceive of and construct knowledge is examined by delineating how they enact their conception of knowledge through curriculum. The contention of Burton Clark and others that disciplinary activity is primarily responsible for fomenting knowledge production is argued. It is suggested that institutions have a more powerful…

After a review of the literature on cognitive "cause maps" in organizational decision-making, this study describes a midwestern elementary school from the perspective of individual sensemaking, captured through individual cognitive maps of cause-effect relationships. Data were collected with an adaptation of Bougon's (1983) Self-Q…

This paper attempts to show that it is possible to analyze a problem solving protocol in which the subject spontaneously generates a series of analogies. The qualitative physics problem given to the subject describes a situation where that which is unfamiliar is often solved by relating it to several analogous situations that are more familiar.…

Attribution theory and gerontology would be enriched by the application of a life-span approach to attribution, involving increased attention to the age of the stimulus person and developmental factors associated with self-attribution. In studies on achievement attributions about older people, chronological age appears to be a more salient cue for…