Based on the premise that planning in writing is a strategic response to both the writing situation and the writer's own knowledge, this paper describes the process adult writers bring to ill-defined, expository tasks, such as writing essays, articles, reports and proposals. The paper also states that in planning, writers draw on (nest and…

This document reports the development of an instructional design model for facilitating students' higher order thinking in vocational education programs. It is intended to help those who establish training requirements, identify training problems, diagnose student learning needs, develop training programs, and evaluate program effectiveness. The…

This paper represents one portion of an ongoing effort to elaborate on pedagogical principles based on structural-developmental (largely Piagetian) theory and research. Here, a concept of "problem structure" is developed as a means for identifying physical factors that contribute to children's ability to apply experimental reasoning.…

Ten individuals in the Educational Technology Program at the University of Northern Colorado served as subjects for this study, which was designed to: (1) identify cognitive networks of concepts within components of a system design model for expert and novice instructional developers, and (2) determine cognitive networks of concepts between…

This report summarizes the conceptual framework, findings, and methods of the Teacher Beliefs Study, an intensive, two-year program of research on the structures and functions of teachers' belief systems. Eight teachers in three school districts were videotaped over the course of a semester and were interviewed for a total of approximately 20…

Three studies examined the domain of concepts about dinosaurs in order to assess how the domain might be structured in 4- through 7-year-old children's representations and to explore how the knowledge might be used. Findings indicated that significant differences exist in the way expert and novice children's representations are structured.…

Reported are early results of a research program that aims to improve children's mathematics learning by developing attitudes and strategies that support processes of interpretation and meaning construction in mathematics. Considerable research shows that many children learn mathematics as symbol manipulation rules, without meaning. Collaborative…

Mathematics is generally regarded as a well-structured discipline by educators and cognitive scientists. This leads to the analysis of the suggestion that practitioners begin investigating possibilities for teaching mathematics as if it were an ill-structured discipline, with more than one interpretation for mathematical statements. The paper is…

In an experiment using a conditional logic task, subjects were given a set of cards defining a particular conditional relationship. The subjects were required to determine the rule and predict the outcomes of the rule. Rule structure was varied by providing subjects with either a suggested rule, a partial rule, or no rule for each set of cards.…

A category system for organizing six thinking skills and methods for teaching these skills, using the concept of time, are provided. Representing a proposed sequential order of development, the six thinking skills are: (1) imaging--the creating of an internal mental representation of an external thing and the labeling of that representation, (2)…

This paper discusses the interaction of cognition and physiological factors in emotion from the viewpoint of a developmental-interactionist theory of motivation and emotion. Emphasis is given to the role of cognition in the theory of emotion. The nature of cognition is discussed in terms of (1) the "primacy" of emotion versus cognition;…

Assesses three papers in this volume, those by Wellman and Estes, Olson and Torrance, and Hall and Nagy, for their treatment of the following: (1) definition of semantic space, (2) defining children's processes of understanding that space, and (3) describing the contexts in which cognitive language is used. (AEW)

Designed to promote cooperative efforts between researchers in artificial intelligence and instruction for the development of future computer-delivered instructional systems, this article contrasts intelligent computer-assisted instruction (ICAI) and traditional computer-based instruction (CBI) in terms of the basic philosophies underlying their…

Examines knowledge, its origin, the factors affecting its growth, individual and group differences, and the implications of these ideas for the teaching of science. Describes a model of learning as a conceptual change which might reconcile competing instructional frameworks so that "western science" could be taught effectively in…

The relationship of cognitive development to learning science is considered. Views of thinking from both a psychological and a scientific standpoint are compared in order to shed light on current science teaching practice. Metacognition and problem solving are discussed. (Author/MT)