Summarizes recent research which attempted to discover what children of different ages know about the appearance-reality distinction and related phenomena. Findings show that what helps children grasp the distinction is an increased cognizance of the fact that people are sentient subjects who have mental representations of objects and events. (PS)

Discusses case presentation approach as mechanism for improving case conceptualization skills. Describes case presentation as dealing with three conceptualization tasks: (1) identifying and differentiating how observations and inferences provide evidence for clinical judgments; (2) describing components of counseling relationship; and (3)…

Visual preference procedures were used to investigate development of perceptually based subordinate-level categorization in 3- to 7-month-old infants. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that 3- to 4-month-olds did not form category representations for photographic exemplars of subordinate-level classes of cats and dogs (i.e., Siamese vs. Tabby,…

This report discusses the progress in the development and clarification of the term "environmental literacy" (EL) and suggests ways in which the term may be used to advance the field of environmental education. Part I presents the evolution of EL beginning with a description of the concept as a goal of general education. Discussed in…

The ontological problem is "what exists?" The answer regarding the part of consciousness which is related to left hemisphere is that only individual discrete objects exist; objects are regarded one at a time. The answer regarding the part of consciousness which is related to right hemisphere is only comprehensive entities exist; each…

Responds to Biggs' article on the case presentation approach in clinical supervision, commending the author for drawing together two areas of psychology: case presentation in counselor supervision and cognitive development. Discusses three major contributions of, and three concerns with, Biggs' model. (NB)

In this article, I develop the idea that the starting point of moral education is formed by the affective commitments individuals make in the course of growing up. The task of education is to enable children to critically consider and revise these commitments, as part of the development of a reflective personal identity. Ethical concepts like…

Introduces the learning cycle method in the context of biology instruction. Includes a theoretical rationale for its use as well as a brief review of key studies that have found it effective. (Author/MM)

Describes the history of five selected problems from mathematics that are included in an undergraduate honors course designed to utilize original sources for demonstrating the evolution of ideas developed in solving these problems: area and the definite integral, the beginnings of set theory, solutions of algebraic equations, Fermat's last…

The term, "schema," used largely as a descriptive convenience rather than a theoretical guidepost in social psychology is examined through an analysis of its development, function, and structure. This paper articulates a model of schema development in adults by defining a schema as a representation of some stimulus domain and a set of…

Considers the role of evolution and natural selection in the functioning of the modern human brain. Natural selection equipped humans with a mental toolbox of intuitive theories about the world which were used to master rocks, tools, plants, animals, and one another. The same toolbox is used today to master the intellectual challenges of modern…

The difficulties and misconceptions that many students experience when learning to visualize graphs of functions are discussed. Specifically, the inability to make accurate connections between symbolic and graphical representations, the lack of understanding about scale and scaling, and the confusion caused by transformations are examined with…

Proposes the dialectical perspective as offering fertile ground for the integration of child and family research and training. Defines the dialectical perspective and then discusses its applicability in a department of child and family studies. (Author)

A general model of conceptual change which is largely derived from current philosophy of science, but which can illuminate learning as well, is described. Some features of this model are illustrated by interviews with students studying special relativity in physics. Finally, some pedagogical implications are presented. (Author/PB)

This paper outlines four principles for preparing multimedia instructional sequences and, where necessary, the experimental methods for applying the principles successfully. Covered first are the criteria for good terminology for unfamiliar objects, actions, and situations, with methods for deriving such terminology. In the next section guidelines…