Describes environments for concretely enacting multiplication and division. Discusses difficulties occurring when students use one of the concrete environments to model situations involving modified environments. (YP)

Students at concrete or formal operational reasoning levels made similarity judgments on geometric concepts and mathematical expressions on ratio, proportion, and similarity. Clear prototypical maps could be derived for both groups. Formal operational students structured subject matter content significantly more like subject matter experts than…

Studied were the misconceptions that preservice elementary teachers have about multiplication and division. Results indicated that they are influenced by the same primitive models as students; the most common errors made by both groups are quite similar. (MNS)

The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure for the evaluation of M-demand of chemistry problems. It was shown that dimensional analysis upon the Neo-Piagetian theory of Pascual-Leone could help science teachers to understand the epistemological basis of their discipline. (CW)

Argues for a new approach to empirical work which focuses on classroom thoughtfulness. Proposes a conception of higher-order thinking that synthesizes theoretical literature with the views of practitioners. Offers a conceptual basis for empirical study of classrooms, teachers, students, and institutional leaders. (GG)

The results of survey of secondary school biology students used to access misconceptions about cells are presented. A distinction between conceptions, misconceptions, and nonconceptions is drawn in terms of secondary school biology concepts. The resilience of misconceptions is discussed. (CW)

Compares the cognitive representation of number of 24 American, 25 Chinese, 24 Japanese, and 40 Korean first-graders, and 20 Korean kindergartners. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean children preferred to use a construction of tens and ones to show numbers, whereas English-speaking children preferred to use a collection of units. (RJC)

Investigates several aspects of undergraduate students' rules for projectile motion including general patterns; rules for questions about time, distance, solids and liquids; and changes in rules when asked to ignore air resistance. Reports approach differences by sex and high school physics experience, and that novice rules are situation…

Describes a study of the understanding of basic electrical concepts shown by 15-17 year-old students in England, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and West Germany. Reports substantially the same pattern of learning difficulties across countries. Provides sample items. (Author/YP)

Interviews with (n=20) primary teachers, who had participated in inservice workshops on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), revealed three patterns of CGI use--as mainstay, as supplement, and decreasingly--which seemed related to their beliefs about mathematics, learning, and CGI itself. (40 references) (MKR)

This paper examines characteristics of resilience and compares characteristics of giftedness and resilience. It discusses cognitive appraisal as a mechanism used by gifted children as they develop resilience. Applications for working with gifted students and areas for future research are noted. (JDD)

Seven gifted children (ages 9-14), their families, teachers, and friends were interviewed concerning their adjustment and coping with stress. Patterns which applied to all seven children are described, including: adjustment as process, use of withdrawal or self-initiated timeout, creation of challenges, assertiveness, recognition of achievement,…

A review of literature on sensitivity as an affective characteristic of gifted persons is presented. A multifaceted approach to sensitivity is proposed, conceptualizing it as consisting of cognitive and affective dimensions of both interpersonal and intrapersonal sensitivity. The psychological concepts of self-awareness, perspective taking,…

Studied children's transitive inference where representation of premises provided contradictory information depending on position of two elements in a A, B, C series. Eight-year olds did significantly better on the more complex problems than did six-year olds, suggesting the presence of a developmental sequence of algorithms that enable children…

Presents a view of the relative roles of logical presupposition and shared knowledge in "it"-cleft constructions. Indicators of shared knowledge relate to a speaker's "assumptions" about the state of the hearer's knowledge, whereas presuppositions indicate a speaker's "requirements" for what should be included within…