Difficulties facing learning disabled (LD) students in problem solving are reviewed and an approach is proposed to help them make better use of the learning strategies available to them. A cognitive learning style approach to LD students is introduced, followed by an analysis of problem solving and the stages of information processing (attention,…

The teaching of decision-making, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking skills is necessary to ensure adaptability to our world of accelerated change. Living skills in the technology and information age will include the understanding and application of higher level thinking skills, which will be the educational "basics" of tomorrow.…

Designed for students enrolled in Alvin Community College's Cooperative Education Program, this booklet provides information on the cooperative education course. After indicating that the purpose of the cooperative education course is to provide the student with a foundation for maximum functioning in the work world and to underscore the parallels…

The emphasis on promoting thinking skills in the classroom has fostered several trends, tendencies, and tensions. This movement has taken three directions: the teaching of thinking, teaching for thinking, and teaching about thinking. In the first, thinking is regarded as a process of developing a set amount of skills. The proponents of this…

Construct systems and style preferences of 30 student teachers were investigated before and after student teaching using Gregorc's (1982) "Style Delineator" and Kelly's (1955) "Repgrid". The majority of student teachers were found to prefer styles of Concrete Sequential and Abstract Random. Constructs were elicited from students as they compared…

The foundations of knowledge by tradition have been treated analytically, and knowledge has been characterized as a theoretical subject. This article introduces a steering mechanism as the prerequisite for a study of knowledge work and maintenance on empirical grounds. Knowledge is treated synthetically, that is, as something that exists only…

This paper analyzes Bogdanov's theory of knowledge as found in philosophical dialogues and essays. The style of Bogdanov's writing and his ideas on philosophy, science, scientific constructs, truth, human knowledge, objectivity and ethics are discussed. These ideas are compared to the constructivist view of knowledge. (CW)

This paper examines and critiques several learning style inventories (LSI) in an effort to find the optimal research instrument for a proposed empirical study of both the quality of courseware and the impact of courseware characteristics on variations of learning effectiveness due to learner characteristics. Five LSIs are examined: (1) Dunn LSI;…

Much research has focused on cognitive skills in isolation from daily life and from action. However, memory and thinking in daily life are not separate from, but are part of, doing. This study is based on a theoretical framework that encompasses an integrated account of mind in action. This "activity theory" holds that neither mind as such nor…

One approach to the study of cognitive processes highlights the distinctions between expert and novice problem solvers. This approach attempts to discover how experts and novices differ in the way they organize, retain and use domain related knowledge. It appears to some that what is learned from expert-novice research can help teachers to teach…

This investigation examined the relationship between problem solving ability and the criteria used to decide whether two classical mechanics problems could be solved similarly. The investigators began by comparing experts and novices on a similarity judgment task and found that experts predominantly relied on the problems' deep structure in…

Ways in which faculty and students think and learn are defined and a new concept of undergraduate teaching is presented that involves the continuous interaction of professors and students. The book is the result of two projects conducted by the authors between 1978 and 1987 that involved 15 institutions, including DePauw University, Ohio Wesleyan…

This chapter describes current research in cognitive psychology and considers how this work may be applied to the design of instructional materials. The nature of knowing--and of meaningful knowing--are examined, and findings from psycholinguistics and pattern recognition are integrated to provide an understanding of concept and memorization…

Responding to recent advances in developmental and cognitive science research on knowledge acquisition, this report presents a theoretical framework for analyzing cognitive development as a process of learning. The first section summarizes three developmental characteristics recognized in both the Piagetian and the quantita experimental tradition:…

A theoretical model of cultural acquisition, the cultural proficiency model, is based on the premise that culture is learned, and can and should be learned in the language classroom. The model can be represented as a spiral continuum of awareness and behaviors; it is based on the premise that there can be no functional use of the second language…