The Teacher Professional Development Institute employs Internet technology to support distributed professional learning communities. The Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will soon employ a similar model in its program. Work and learning within STEP evolves around instructional design teams…

Reports on a study designed to assess the value of the Tailored Response Test (TRT) as a learning device. Results suggest that the TRT, which involves active cognitive processing, has a positive effect on learning and is valuable as an evaluation and a learning tool. (DDR)

Presents a study designed to explore whether a student's use of the graphing calculator during instruction will affect their concept of function, how students' participation in a conceptual change assignment affects their concept of function, and how the graphing calculator and the conceptual change assignment interact with one another to…

Argues that the organization of cognitive structures for technical domains can be visualized as a network of connected thinkable models. Describes a taxonomy of models that has been developed and discusses the issue of how representations relate to human modes of perception and action. Contains 25 references. (DDR)

Presents a project that explored student choice of a solution method for quadratic inequalities. Students were first instructed in the use of the case, critical-number, and graphical methods using the graphing calculator. The majority of students chose graphical methods of solution. (DDR)

Describes a study that investigated probabilistic intuitions held by students (N=98) from grade 7 through college through the use of a questionnaire. Of the misconceptions that were investigated, availability was the only one that was stable across age groups. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Reviews research linking social and cognitive processes, exploring implications for schooling and teacher education. The social basis of cognitive development is examined, highlighting Vygotsky's work and major aspects of his theory. Implications of sociohistorical perspectives on aspects of schooling are examined, and promising practices related…

Examined the development of teaching skills in older siblings responsible for teaching their younger siblings to become competent members of their culture among children from a Zinacantec Maya village in Chiapas, Mexico. Found that by age 4, children took responsibility for initiating teaching situations with their younger siblings, and by 8,…

Collected qualitative data through interviews and triad elicitation with 5-year-olds in London to determine children's current knowledge and understanding of their "making" activity and of Lego construction kit components. Data provided triangulation for another study that found that young children could achieve a great deal with…

Describes a study that investigates the relationship between secondary students' written responses and the mathematical and cognitive processing used when solving a complex problem. Contains 40 references. (DDR)

Reviews five methods of representing cognitive structures: (1) free word association; (2) controlled word association; (3) tree construction; (4) concept map; and (5) flow map. Discusses the applications as well as the limitations of these methods by comparing the types of analysis that are generated. (Contains 37 references.) (Author/YDS)

Discussed are problems revealed in student responses to a practical task which formed part of an advanced level examination. The frequencies with which some misconceptions about cell reproduction and genetics occurred are presented. The nature of these misconceptions is analyzed and their implications discussed. (CW)

Presents a taxonomy and a rationale for measuring three domains of online search competence--affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. Implications for bibliographic instruction are explored, including the desirability of teaching users affective skills that will permit them to acquire the complex cognitive skills required to conduct more…

This study compared effectiveness of cognitive modeling with and without verbalization in teaching 60 learning-disabled elementary students efficient questioning strategies. Results indicated that both groups showed significant reductions from pretreatment to posttreatment in the number of questions required but no effectiveness differential…

Investigated are three misconceptions of probability and the differential effect of two activity-based instructional units. Response categories (law of averages, law of small numbers, and availability) are identified. Treatment differences (evaluation or no evaluation) appear to influence subjects' interpretations of the information. (YP)