Focuses on the role of Thought Experiments (TEs) in ongoing processes of conceptual refinement for physicists and physics learners. Analyze TEs related to stellar evolution and general relativity. Identifies the stages at which crucial errors are made in these TEs and the cognitive processes which lead to these errors. Discusses implications for…

Presents a teaching approach related to the concept of function that lead students working within a graphic milieu to producing, discussing, and testing the validity of mathematical statements and theorems. Indicates that students experimenting with the approach became able to think of functions as objects and engage in questions of the validity…

Presents an exploration of conversation in a single episode of a 12th grade girls' calculus class. Analyzes Habermasian communicative competence which requires students to show critical thinking and the ability to express their views. Explains learning outcomes by teachers' mode of questioning, cooperative endeavor by students, instructional…

Discusses certain transferable skills and a strategy for developing them via an intensive short course on mathematical modeling. Includes student reactions and comments on the course. Suggests that this course developed modeling as well as generic skills through teaching, learning, and assessment style. (Author/KHR)

Explores some specific ways that the role of coach as exemplified in extracurricular activities can be carried by teachers into the classroom for adolescent students. Highlights include the collective quest that includes cooperative learning to encourage teamwork; ritual and passion that give a sense of belonging and security; and performance…

Offers some tips to help make learning logs an integral part of mathematics instruction. Includes examples of learning logs. (KHR)

Presents a method for determining the coordinates of the endpoint of a line segment given its slope, point of origin, and length. Applies the notion of similar triangles to quickly solve this type of problem. Includes a calculator program. (KHR)

Assesses the effects of explicitly teaching for transfer by broadening the categories by which students group problems requiring the same solution methods and prompting students to search novel problems for these broad categories. This transfer treatment was combined with instruction on solution methods. Improvement on immediate- and near-transfer…

A study involving university students with (n=53) and without (n=417) learning disabilities (LD) found students with LD differed significantly in the relationships between their motivation for and use of standard self-regulated learning and compensation strategies, which provided a differential explanation of academic achievement for students with…

It has been observed that children are able to learn to use computers and the Internet on their own, irrespective of their social, cultural or economic backgrounds (Mitra and Rana, 2001). This article describes subsequent experiments, conducted in five regions in India, results obtained, and possible conclusions. (AEF)

Development of children's phonological and orthographic processing was studied from middle of grade 1 to end of grade 4. Signs of reliance on phonological processing were found on reading aloud, spelling, and silent reading tasks, even with indicators of reliance on orthographic processing. Phonological and orthographic processing appeared to be…

Describes ways of using existing popular songs, writing raps, or writing new words for existing tunes in the mathematics classroom to supply motivation and mnemonics. (KHR)

Notes that many students enter postsecondary institutions unprepared to meet the studying demands placed on them. Examines models and taxonomies that have guided researchers as they have investigated studying. Reviews research factors related to studying at the college level: course characteristics, learner characteristics, and learning…

Describes a CD-ROM written by faculty in an Australian university that is based on principles of a constructivist theory of learning. Examines three examples of appropriate interactivity to indicate the variety, relevance, pedagogical principles, and interest that can be generated to enhance student learning by using multimedia. (Author/LRW)

Delineates an approach to solving school-wide energy problems. Explains how the educational materials parents had to use with their children had an affect on the behavior of all participants. (DDR)