This article describes a professional development course intended to improve the content understanding of middle school mathematics teachers. The design of the course included three professional learning strategies: problem solving, examination of student thinking, and discussion of research. The concepts studied in the course included multi-digit…

This study is an investigation of the epistemological beliefs and study habits of students undertaking first-year courses in Biological Chemistry and Biochemistry. In particular, we were interested in the relationship between students' epistemological beliefs about learning and knowledge, approaches to learning, and achievement. The study adopted…

The relationship between reading ability (word recognition) and developmental spelling stages was studied with 11 children (9 boys, 2 girls) with reading disabilities in grades 3, 4, and 5. Word recognition ability was determined by administering the Classroom Reading Inventory. Graded word lists were then used as a measure of word recognition and…

The skills taught in the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) program and the Instrumental Enrichment (IE) program are unlikely to transfer to thinking in the regular curriculum. The exercises in these programs might be fun to do, but the thinking required is done outside the context of significant subject matter in the humanities and the sciences. The…

Education has been in a perpetual state of reform seeking "far reaching changes in weary practices, outmoded assumptions, and long-assumed constraints." This approach must be examined to keep the same old problems from resurfacing and making reform efforts ineffective. Common suggestions for educational reform involve stricter standards,…

The Learning Cycle, a popular medium for teaching science lessons, can be used to teach a language arts lesson on acronyms, an appropriate skill topic for students in grades four through six. Acronyms are fascinating words that can challenge students to solve the puzzle of what the letters stand for. The three-phase Learning Cycle arranges…

In senior-level undergraduate research courses in Computer Information Systems (CIS), students are required to read and assimilate a large volume of current research literature. One course objective is to demonstrate to the student that there are patterns or models or paradigms of research. A new approach in identifying research paradigms is…

A study examined whether the need for feedback varied with students' metacognitive knowledge monitoring abilities. Subjects were 59 fifth-grade students--35 females and 24 males. Students were given a list of 25 words with instructions to check off whether they knew or did not know each of the words; a multiple choice vocabulary test containing…

Research has documented the relationship between attributions and metacognition in the areas of memory, visual discrimination, and reading. The present study extended this research into the domain of mathematical problem solving. Thirty ninth-grade students who attributed performance to strategy, effort, or unknown causes were videotaped and asked…

This document consists of the two issues of "SET" published during 1989. Each SET issue consists of a packet of brief reports, leaflets, pamphlets, etc., all reporting on educational research and designed for private study, staff-meetings, in-service courses, or small group discussions. (LL/ND)

This document consists of a complete run of "SET" from 1992 through 1996 inclusive (10 issues). Each SET issue consists of a packet of brief reports, leaflets, pamphlets, etc., all reporting on educational research and designed for private study, staff-meetings, in-service courses, or small group discussions. (LL/ND)

The research on cooperative scripts is brought together using a model that provides an overview of the learning processes involved and the outcomes to be expected from the use of certain scripts. By providing such a framework, the wealth of research may be compared and generalized, thereby promoting its instructional utility. The Cognitive…

This study explores what cooperative learning activities in an undergraduate chemistry course meant to the students. Cooperative learning activities were used throughout the course with one class session per week being entirely devoted to such activities. An analysis of field notes and a questionnaire completed by the students yielded three…

This bibliography was designed to assist psychology instructors in incorporating active learning strategies into their courses. The document contains articles that describe specific techniques that should help students to become more involved in learning about psychology than traditional lecture methods allow. The bibliography was prepared by…

The complexity (fractal dimension value) of responses to the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) between 10 undergraduate students with learning disabilities and a comparison group of 10 students without learning disabilities were compared. The fractal value of responses was assessed under three conditions (copy, immediate, and delay) by…