BrainPOP Science is a research-based program that has been shown to be effective in improving and quickly developing students' scientific reasoning skills. This white paper presents a comprehensive case study conducted in school districts in the Southeastern United States. BrainPOP Science is one of the leading supplemental middle school programs.…

We report on findings from two one-on-one teaching experiments with prospective middle school teachers (PTs). The focus of each teaching experiment was on identifying and explicating the mental processes and types of intermediate, supporting reasoning that each PT used in their development of combinatorial reasoning. The teaching experiments were…

The social studies curriculum travels through time and space and is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. To an outsider, the social studies curriculum is a single line on a program of studies, 45 minutes of a student's school day. Those on the inside, however, know that the field covers history, geography, civics, economics, and much…

Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from students as they advance through the middle school years (grades 6-8) reveal insights into the development of students' pattern generalization abilities. As expected, students show a preference for lower-level tasks such as "reading the data," over more distant predictions and generation of abstractions.…

Proverb comprehension through reading was examined in 42 preadolescent students, 24 of whom were identified as "proficient readers," and 18 as "less proficient readers." Comprehension on both unfamiliar concrete and abstract proverbs was associated with reading proficiency, word knowledge, and analogical reasoning. (Contains references.)…

This study presented contextual problems involving rational numbers and proportional reasoning to 7th-grade students with different curricular experiences. Evidence indicates that students in reform curricula, who are encouraged to construct their own conceptual and procedural knowledge of proportionality through collaborative problem-solving…

Reports survey results on proof conceptions. Presents an overview of responses at the end of year 8 (age 13 years) and year 9 (age 14 years). Distinguishes three strategies--empirical, focused-empirical, and focused-deductive--that represent shifts in attention from an inductive to a deductive approach. Indicates some progress from year 8 to year…

Examines the criteria that middle school students, nonscientist adults, technicians, and scientists used to rate the validity of conclusions drawn by hypothetical students from a set of evidence. The sources of the groups' differing epistemic criteria rest in their different spheres of cultural practice. Explores implications of this perspective…

One of the most challenging daily experiences of teaching young adolescents is helping them transition from Piaget's concrete to the formal operational stage of cognitive development during the middle school years. Students who have reached formal operations can design and test hypotheses, engage in deductive reasoning, use flexible thinking,…

Explores strategies to encourage students' understanding of proportional reasoning. Conducts a study to compare the proportional reasoning of students studying one of the new standards-based curricula with that of students from a control group. (ASK)

Contrasts students' presymbolic and symbolic procedures in generalizing activities. Uses the semiotic-cultural theoretical approach and focuses on the role of body, discourse, and signs when students refer to mathematical objects. Identifies types of generalizations and discusses a specific kind of rupture in the ostensive gestures and…

This article presents specific instructional approaches and examples to develop the algebraic reasoning skills of middle and secondary students with mild disabilities. Discussion of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards identifies general principles, content standards, and process standards. Discussion of effective instruction…

Students from thirteen middle school science classes participated in this study to determine their formal reasoning ability and locus of control. Students were observed through a sequence of lessons for their classroom behavior. Results indicated that achievement was related to high formal reasoning ability, attention to instruction, and internal…

Students' abstract reasoning abilities can differ from one society to another. Students' profiles play significant roles in these differences. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between middle school students' cognitive development levels and their profiles (age, gender, and science achievement) using the Science Cognitive…

Examined is the relationship between junior high school students' directional reasoning about rates and numerical reasoning on proportion-related word problems. The relationship between the ability to solve context-free fraction exercises and the ability to solve mathematically similar word problems is discussed. (KR)