Educators generally assume that questioning promotes learning and that higher level questions do so better than lower level questions. But there are a number of problems with these assumptions. First, the classification of questions as higher level or lower level is ambiguous. The distinction is confused by such issues as non-controversial…

Major themes from the previous light articles on literacy, reasoning, and education are highlighted. Common inferences about the needs for organizational change, loosening of governmental rules and controls, and field-initiated research are described. The general exclusion of the affective domain from this discussions of higher order reasoning is…

Following a brief discussion of two facets of written material readability--reading ease and human interest--two reasons why written instructional material may be so difficult to read are considered: use of technical vocabulary and abstract language. Suggestions to make written instructional materials more readable are provided. (MBR)

Describes computer simulations that combine abstract and conceptual learning to help create an intense, content-rich learning opportunity grounded in experience and reality. Examines learning with intent, limitations of computers, features of a good simulation, and linking contextual and abstract learning. (CT)

Examines ways in which the varying degrees of distance that occur in drama may help children to engage in more abstract levels of thought and language. (HTH)

Giambattista Vico, an 18th-century Neapolitan philosopher, believed that, from children, adults could learn lessons they could not teach themselves. This learning, however, is predicated on the necessity that genuine childhood be allowed to exist and that logic and abstraction are not introduced to children too soon. (JMK)

This paper discusses what the theory of abstraction is about, the need for a theory of abstraction in mathematics education, and the requirements that such a theory should meet. All three are reconsidered from a personal point of view. (KHR)

This paper presents a cognitive theoretical framework for the learning of mathematics which has generic implications for other disciplines. The framework has been developed using a combination of established theories about learning and the authors' research into the understanding of some specific types of learning. It is based on the integration…

The hermeneutic circle uses theory-practice interaction in three methods--science, critical theory, and poetics--in an effort to contribute to the continual search for greater understanding. (JN)

Presents and defends the thesis that it is analogy which provides justification for any logic, and for any argument to the extent that it depends on logic for justification. Analogy acquires inept support from logic, but logic acquires adroit support from analogy. (JMF)

This paper argues that morality is essentially a matter of rational reflection and judgment and has little to do with feelings or affections. The notions of reason and justification are analyzed. Four types of feelings are defined and shown to provide inadequate bases for moral judgment. (Author/SJL)

The paper questions the relationship among reason, imagination, and empathy, and argues that empathy fosters critical and creative thinking and that its enhancement should be adopted as an important educational goal. The paper proposes that critical and creative thinking are much more integrated processes than often supposed. (JDD)

Traces the evolution of college students' assumptions about knowledge and how it is gained, and examines how their judgment can be enhanced through teaching. Summarizes seven stages of reflective judgment, including three stages of prereflective thinking, two stages of quasi-reflective thinking, and two stages of reflective thinking. Suggests ways…

Considers the cognitive mechanisms available to individuals which enable them to operate successfully in different parts of the mathematics curriculum, such as children's arithmetic shows divergence in performance. Explains how students cope with the transition to advanced mathematical thinking in different ways, leading once more to a diverging…

This article argues that advanced mathematical thinking, usually conceived as thinking in advanced mathematics, might profitably be viewed as advanced thinking in mathematics (advanced mathematical-thinking). Hence, advanced mathematical-thinking can properly be viewed as potentially starting in elementary school. The definition of mathematical…