To move information toward knowledge and activity toward mastery, learners must play with ideas, use them, and make them their own. Methods for achieving mastery include interdisciplinary approaches that require deep thinking, story telling, and reflection. (Contains 20 references.) (SK)

The author proposes a neural-network-based explanation of how a brain might acquire intuitive expertise. The explanation is intended merely to be suggestive and lacks many complexities found in even lower animal brains. Yet significantly, even this simplified brain model is capable of explaining the acquisition of simple skills without developing…

An approach to learning chemical facts that starts with the periodic table and depends primarily on recognizing and completing patterns and following a few simple rules is described. This approach exploits the exceptions that arise and uses them as opportunities for further concept development.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between hearing loss and memory and attention when nonverbal, visually presented cognitive tests are used. Method: Hearing loss (pure-tone audiometry) and IQ were measured in 30 participants with mild to severe hearing loss. Participants performed cognitive tests of pattern recognition memory,…

A test of recognition memory for sentences was administered to 22 poor readers and 15 good readers ages 10.5 to 14.6 years. Poor readers were markedly retarded in aspects of the graphemic analysis (pattern-analyzing) of the texts. (LLK)

An investigation of 4-month-old children's attention responses to pattern dimensions and orientations by comparing the duration of an infant's fixation to changes in the orientation and structural arrangement of a previously exposed pattern. (ED)

In discussing the relationship between cognitive development (perception, pattern recognition, and memory) and reading processes, this paper especially emphasizes developmental factors. After an overview of some issues that bear on how written language is processed, the paper presents a discussion of pattern recognition, including general pattern…

This unit describes an experience in informal geometry that is based on work with construction paper and milk cartons. The description is mostly of work actually carried out by children in the elementary grades involving such mathematical concepts as congruence, symmetry, the idea of a geometric transformation, and some basic notions of elementary…

Preschool, third grade and fifth grade children were presented with two choice-reaction time experiments in which probe stimulus quality was manipulated, to measure the effects of probe stimulus degradation at three developmental levels. Results support the hypothesis that children and adults employ similar strategies in preprocessing degraded…

Adult subjects viewed pictures at brief intervals, testing their reactions to informative objects--those not redundant with or predictive of the rest of the picture, such as a tractor in an underwater scene. Results indicated that observers fixate earlier, more often, and longer on informative objects. (Author/SJL)

An analysis of the rabbit problem reveals some of the fascinating properties of the Fibonacci numbers. (MP)

A geoboard-related extremal problem dealing with both concave and convex polygons is discussed and a proof is given of the solution. (MP)

Infants, aged one to four months, were tested for developmental shifts in their ability to discriminate internal pattern elements in compound geometric figures. Significant recovery was seen at all ages when any pattern element was altered. No developmental differences in responsiveness to changes in internal versus external figures were observed.…

Article focused on numerous examples of mimic/model confusion experienced by animal and man. (Author/RK)

Gestalt psychologists have given many examples to demonstrate that laws of visual organization cause one view of scene to dominate others. This is also true for simple shapes. A figure can be articulated into many fragments but only a few will be perceptually dominant. (Author)