Describes a heuristic inquiry process attempting to better understand and appreciate a major aspect of religion influenced culture in the southern United States which has an impact on science education. Examines the intellectual and emotional viewpoints of scientists, science educators, and science teachers regarding the relationship between their…

Reports, in French, an investigation on the use of graphic representations in problem-solving tasks of the type in Spanish Mathematical Olympiads. Analysis showed that the choice and interpretation of the first graphic representation played a decisive role in the discovery of the solution. (34 references) (Author/MKR)

Examines the shared cognitive dimensions of cultural institutions like museums, libraries, and parks, suggesting they make similar situations for transmitting information. The article encourages a critical understanding of public cultural institutions to enlarge the potential for discourse about their analysis and criticism. Heuristic questions…

Provides a method for helping young poets shape their poems by arranging lines and inventing poetic patterns. Shows how using odd geometrical shapes can be used to help students determine the arrangement of words in poems and to encourage a vital interaction between the visual form and the words inside it. (HB)

Gaming is discussed against a background of rationalist and historicist traditions of reality; trivial and nontrivial machine models of problem solving; and rigid-rule and free-form games. (JKP)

John Dewey and the National Research Council NRC both discuss the problem of translating scientific research into contexts of schooling, but differ about the proper solution to the problem. The NRC would solve it by empirical investigation. Dewey finds value in that approach, but also wants educational theorists to construct general heuristics to…

This paper presents comments on Kassin's review, (see record 2005-03019-002) of the psychology of false confessions. The authors note that Kassin's review makes a compelling argument for the need for legal reform in police interrogation practices. Because his work strikes at the heart of the American criminal justice system--its fairness--the…

This article takes a critical look at administrative decision making in schools and the extent to which complex decisions conform to normative models and common expectations of rationality. An alternative framework for administrative decision making is presented that is informed, but not driven, by theories of rationality. The framework assumes…

Reform-oriented efforts geared toward transformative education and equal educational opportunities for all U.S. school children (regardless of race, gender, or cultural/linguistic background) are underway and advocacy is emerging as an important topic of discussion and debate among language-in-education specialists, applied linguists included. …

The central feature of doctoral training in the humanities, according to this author, must remain the organization of curricula to support the mastery of disciplines, the development of rich conceptual frameworks, and a demonstrable attainment of research skills. The work of transmitting these capacities is only partially done by the curriculum. A…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how drawings can contribute to generating new information when solvers use drawings in solving mathematical problems. For this purpose, two episodes, in which drawings enabled a solver to find ideas useful for his solutions, were qualitatively and closely analyzed, especially focusing on what roles…

Coefficient alpha, the most commonly used estimate of internal consistency, is often considered a lower bound estimate of reliability, though the extent of its underestimation is not typically known. Many researchers are unaware that coefficient alpha is based on the essentially tau-equivalent measurement model. It is the violation of the…

Like all probabilistic decisions, recognition memory judgments are based on inferences about the strength and quality of stimulus familiarity. In recent articles, B. W. A. Whittlesea and J. Leboe (2000; J. Leboe & B. W. A. Whittlesea, 2002) proposed that such memory decisions entail various heuristics, similar to well-known heuristics in overt…

This paper presents a user-centred design and evaluation methodology for ensuring the usability of IR interfaces. The methodology is based on sequentially performing: a competitive analysis, user task analysis, heuristic evaluation, formative evaluation and a summative comparative evaluation. These techniques are described, and their application…

Employing conversation analysis as a research technique, this study investigates the ways that unintelligibility is accounted for and overcome within a therapeutic encounter between an individual with aphasia and dysarthria and his clinician. The results emphasize the collaborative nature of intelligibility negotiation and demonstrate how both the…