Based on the premise that psychology can be an invaluable tool to mathematics educators, this book highlights how informal mathematics develops, how children construct their view of school arithmetic, and how mathematical thinking operates. The ideas offered are intended to assist teachers in making informed decisions concerning mathematics…

Research has established that students generally possess conceptions relevant to curricular topics before they begin to study them and that these preconceptions often persist despite instruction on scientific theories which contradict them. Discrepancies between students' post instruction conceptions and the scientific theories as taught often…

Using four classrooms for comparison purposes (grades 1 and 6 at Warm Springs Reservation which contained 95% Indian students and similar grades in two classrooms at a nearby off-reservation town of Madras, Oregon, which contained 95% Anglo students), the book contends that the children of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation are enculturated in…

The study design and interim findings of the study conducted to determine the impact of bilingual education on students in the cognitive and affective domains in a nationally representative sample of Spanish/English bilingual projects are presented. The results summarized reflect the pre-post test period of data collection of the academic year…

Ways in which children learn about race and form attitudes towards groups other than their own are described and the processes underlying the development of racial awareness and racial attitudes are delineated. The first three sections of the paper discuss the age at which racial attitudes begin to form, the developmental antecedents of racial…

This article, translated into Spanish from the French, discusses changes and increasing complications in society which call for educational reform and improvement. Elementary education, traditionally based on memory skills, should become the setting for the development of mental processes and intellectual skills through the activity of problem…

The program evaluated was developed to assist teachers in providing students with opportunities to become successful users of content materials through the installation and reinforcement of independent study skills. Lessons using high interest items in social studies content with emphasis on improving cognitive processes were designed for…

Evaluated effects of time pressure on attributions made and solutions generated in hypothetical social problem situations by aggressive and nonaggressive boys. Found a greater level of arousal in the time pressure condition than the untimed condition across all subjects and greater numbers, more types, and more aggressive solutions. (SD)

Academic risk taking--the selection of schoollike tasks ranging in difficulty and probability of success--was examined for 602 students in grades 4, 6, and 8 in Taiwan. Results of a self-report measure of tolerance for failure and a risk-taking task are discussed concerning self-enhancement versus self-assessment goals, metacognitive skills, and…

Describes the use and rationale of "Silent Teaching," a teaching technique in which the teacher remains silent as students generate and evaluate hypotheses while trying to understand an as-yet undiscovered concept. (MDH)

Describes the "number 2 arithmetic challenge," an activity in which students score points by creating examples using the number 2 that satisfy an unknown rule. Computers are utilized to verify and record examples. Conflicts with computer responses create situations to explore negative numbers, fractions, mixed numbers, the order of…

Presents a scripted lesson plan for intermediate grades, based on M.C. Wittrock's model of generative teaching derived from brain lateralization research. Uses a shopping mall as the setting for hypothetical dilemmas. Offers a combination of verbal and imagined strategies that improve students' economic reasoning and teaches cost-benefit analysis.…

This study, conducted in Singapore, was designed to determine pre-service primary teachers' (n=34) behavior in asking operational questions in science. In training the pre-service teachers in asking operational questions, the meaning of operational questions was first illustrated and clarified to them through the use of some examples during group…

By the age of 4, children typically have separate schema for relating events in the physical world and for relating events to associated mental states. Generally, these schema cannot be coordinated until around 6 years of age, when the ability to use them together yields a structure for assigning intentionality. This intentional structure develops…

The revised Iowa Developed Energy Activity Sampler (IDEAS) was compiled using the original IDEAS program and the Energy Conservation Activity Packets (ECAPS). This booklet provides activities for teachers in the intermediate elementary grades (3-5) and is designed to enable students to develop a comprehensive understanding of energy concepts. Each…