Applications of social judgment theory are discussed with respect to policy formation and decisionmaking in educational contexts. Interactive computer technology is described, which can execute social judgment analyses, provide cognitive feedback to the policymaker on selected policy parameters, compare the policies of several policymakers, and…

Reviews the background leading to the development and evaluation of problems to examine student ability to do qualitative reasoning, applying concepts rather than algorithms. Describes creation of quantitative and qualitative problem papers, summarizes results, and proposes distinctions based on cognitive difficulty. (JM)

A model of how the human cognitive system operates in its natural social context is presented. The model focuses on both input and output variables that have been ignored in the development of most other cognitive theories. Unique predictions of the model and empirical evidence bearing on them are discussed. (Author/LMO)

Examined the relationship between 7-, 9-, and 11-year old children's performance on a battery of selected Piagetian measures and on a proportional reasoning task. Found a strong relationship between stage level and (1) the complexity of hypotheses used, (2) the use of the proportional hypothesis, and (3) the overall use of logical hypotheses. (HOD)

This paper presents a reasoning taxonomy to explain reasoning objectives, strategies, and habits available to the advanced thinker. It begins by explaining the first part of the taxonomy, objectives of reasoning, including the need for skilled thinkers to reason with a purpose and to understand how the world works so that they can engage with it.…

Describes the development of a curriculum to improve problem- solving ability when faced with uncertainty by (1) encouraging students to examine their thought processes, (2) presenting fallacious arguments, and (3) providing better tools for decision making. Relevant psychological research, some problems of teacher training, and a small-scale…

Reports on data obtained in Australia on practicing teachers' thinking as they interacted with a professional development interactive multimedia courseware package. Two types of thinking are discussed: (1) cognitive mediating processes related to content; and (2) evaluative thoughts about the instructional design of the courseware, from which a…

Examines people's behavior in the Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD), in which a person must make two decisions to win a prize. In a series of five studies, found that people misapprehend probabilities in the MHD. Discusses the MHD's relation to illusion of control, belief perseverance, and the status quo bias. (RJM)

A theory of the updating of beliefs over time is presented that explicitly accounts for order-effect phenomena as arising from the interaction of information-processing strategies and task characteristics. The belief-adjustment model is supported by 5 experiments involving 192 adult subjects. (SLD)

The development of understanding of Biblical parables on the part of 28 Swiss subjects of 7 to 50 years of age was studied. It was found that Biblical parables were interpreted through the lens of one's stage of religious judgment in the manner described by Oser's and Gmunder's (1988) model. (BB)

Recent research literature in science education, science curriculum documents, and science methods texts have been highly influenced by constructivist views of how students learn science. But the widespread and often uncritical acceptance of constructivism in science education does not reflect the heated debate between constructivists and…

This paper presents an overview of research in the field of decision theory, with a focus on problem and identification. The goal is to make the decision-making process as rational as possible in order to maximize the rational administration of the organization. The decisions associated with educational administration can be categorized as…

A review of the critical thinking literature reveals that there is growing interest in developing instructional strategies to develop students' critical thinking skills and dispositions. This paper reviews the research literature regarding the nature of critical thinking in the following areas: (1) differences in the conceptualization of critical…

Related research suggests that children may show some simple understanding of event covariations by the early elementary school years. The present experiments use a rule analysis methodology to investigate covariation judgments of children in this age range. In Experiment 1, children in second, third and fourth grade judged covariations on 12…