Two studies examined the construction of children's beliefs about projectile motion of a ball rolled off a table. Describes the concepts used by children, analyzes their use as a function of age, and gives a naturalistic description of their use. Results indicate that appropriate instruction can remediate misconceptions. (MDH)

Introduces the articles in this journal issue, noting the burgeoning interest in the roots of parental beliefs, values, and goals. Highlights thematic continuities among the otherwise diverse research approaches presented, for example, synthesis of different theoretical perspectives of parent beliefs, or the context in which parental beliefs…

Examined the effects of print exposure on growth of declarative knowledge and vocabulary in 133 college students and 49 elderly adults. Compared groups on two general knowledge tasks, vocabulary, working memory, syllogistic reasoning, and print exposure. Found that exposure to print was a significant predictor of declarative and vocabulary…

Examined the extent to which maternal linguistic input enabled children to use syntactic bootstrapping. Studied uses of 25 common verbs in speech of 57 mothers to their 1-year olds and 2-year olds. Found that verbs can be used to create informative syntactic frames, syntactic frames can cue appropriate verb class, and multiple syntactic framing…

Examined two questions related to adolescents' perceived control, conceptualized as agentic representation persons construct for themselves: (1) To what extent is perceived control specific to particular domains? and (2) How many dimensions are involved in perceived control? Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor structure: an…

Reports misconceptions identified in students with respect to the topic of parallel lines and the teaching strategies found to be useful in challenging those misconceptions. (11 references) (MDH)

Discusses dilemmas teachers may face when shifting their concept of teaching or tutoring from explaining or telling to a constructivist perspective of facilitating the development of students' knowledge structures. Examines teachers' decisions during a 20-minute segment of dialogue between a student and teacher while studying linear functions. (14…

Reports a study to investigate the extent to which research experience of designing and conducting their own study could enhance five preservice teachers' understanding of children's knowledge of the mathematical concept of fractions. Results indicated that research experience is fruitful in developing an inquisitive disposition in preservice…

Cognitive psychologists and measurement specialists have identified several methods for assessing students' knowledge structures. Applications of the Concept Structure Analysis Technique and MicroCAM (a computer-aided method) are described. Other research into schema knowledge is noted. These assessment procedures provide information about student…

This study examined the hypothesis that prior experience with augmented-quotient problems would positively influence performance on remainder-only problems and quotient-only problems. Analysis of sixth through eighth grade students' (n=545) responses to test forms that systematically varied the order of appearance of these three division problems,…

Examined fifth-grade students' survey responses to investigate incorrect rules that derive from children's efforts to interpret decimals as integers or as fractions. Regarding fractions, difficulties arise because only the whole-part approach to fractions is presented in elementary school. (Author/MDH)

Reviews the radical constructivism movement in mathematics education. Benefits identified include learner ownership of mathematical learning; importance of social interaction; and identification of principles for improving mathematics teaching and learning. Weaknesses identified include overzealousness of some radical constructivists; downplaying…

Discusses the importance of instruction in metacognition, the mental process of observing, evaluating, and making adjustments in one's own thinking behavior to enhance comprehension during a learning activity. Reviews educational programs which have taught metacognitive behaviors and charts a model instructional approach for use in the college…

Explores high school students' and preservice teachers' knowledge of light, vision, and related topics before and after commonly practiced instruction. Suggests a hierarchical structure to represent the collective conceptual knowledge of students and teachers in terms of facets and schemes of knowledge. Makes suggestions for designing instruction…

Maintains that region familiarity is an important prerequisite in the instructional use of cartograms. Cartograms are value-by-area maps that increase or decrease areas in order to illustrate various data (e.g. book reading in the western United States). Discusses necessary cognitive processes for the visualization of data. (MJP)