The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of three instructional methods and conceptual systems orientation on achievement in a freshman general chemistry laboratory course. Traditional approach, learning cycle, and computer simulations are discussed. (KR)

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and the Cognitive Test for the Blind were used to compare verbal and nonverbal abstraction ability of adults who became blind before age 2 or after age 5 (when expressive language would have been developed). No significant differences were found, but variability of scores on the WAIS-R…

A classroom cognitive intervention model for adolescents and adults who are deaf is described. The model provides mediated learning experiences whereby a person assists the learner in interpreting experience and learning problem-solving strategies. The program, entitled instrumental enrichment (IE), is based on the following principles: IE uses a…

Between 1985 and 1988 eight colleges implemented a "Thinking Across the Curriculum" program and a procedure for assessing the impact of the program on the cognitive development and thinking skills of students. One hundred and twenty faculty members participated in the project and approximately 1,800 students studied in courses developed…

This report describes the "Differential Coursework Patterns (DCP) Project," which developed the Cluster Analytic Model (CAM) to look at effects of different patterns of college coursework on the general learned abilities of students as determined by such measures as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test. The model looks for…

This digest considers the role of personal computers in the education of gifted students. There is evidence that students are working "smarter," whether they are learning and using more information, understanding key concepts and relationships better, or developing higher level thinking skills. Research findings concerning the specific…

This study investigated the development of students' abilities to integrate information in stories as an aspect of reading comprehension. Students aged 8, 11, 14, and 18 judged the importance of key statements, which varied in their causal relations within an episode, between episodes, and in a higher-order structure, yielding three levels of…

This paper discusses ways that students can better be taught to think. It argues that poor/low-achieving students served by Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 could genuinely profit from instruction on thinking and that, for maximum impact, such instruction should be introduced as a course in itself, separate from…

In order to directly relate research on children's thinking to curriculum development in the social studies, this study approximates the conditions and substances of daily classroom life and examines the levels of abstraction in children's thinking about complex social problems. The subjects include 210 boys and girls in equal numbers in grades…

Middle and upper class 3- and 4-year-old children were exposed to three consecutive 5-week treatment conditions in the naturalistic setting of a half-day laboratory nursery school program. During the first treatment condition, the teacher emphasized low level cognitive questions; during the second, high level cognitive questions; and during the…

Discussed are some situations students face that result in cognitive conflict, possible sources of these conflicts, and strategies which students use to resolve, remove, or circumvent them. A global account for observed systematic errors is offered based on a general problem-solving rule called the "Matching Rule." (KR)

A teaching experiment with six third graders to analyze their ways of operating while solving fraction tasks. Children's quantitative reasoning with fractions was based on their quantitative reasoning with natural numbers. Presents the constructive itinerary of one of the most advanced children in the group. (Contains 44 references.) (Author/MDH)

Reports a study of 913 Israeli students in grades 7-12 from randomly chosen heterogeneous homeroom classes to investigate students' Piagetian cognitive levels using a video-based test. Results indicate that less than 50 percent of high school students have mastered formal operational reasoning. (MDH)

This study evaluated the generally recommended concrete-to-abstract hierarchy for presenting a new skill, with three students with learning disabilities in grades 1, 2, and 4. The three subjects enrolled in the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic and Training Program's classroom housed on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. Following…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on thinking skills. The paper begins by raising two issues: whether thinking skills should be taught as part of each subject area, as a separate skill, or both, and whether English and language arts teachers have a special role in the teaching of…