Three models representing different relations between intellectual ability, metacognitive skills, and learning were compared. The conditions under which each of these models holds were investigated, on the basis of the threshold of problematicity theory [Elshout, J. J. (1987). Problem solving and education. In E. De Corte, H. Lodewijks, R.…

This book provides new ways of thinking about educational processes, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Concrete examples of research techniques are provided for those conducting research with marginalized populations or about marginalized ideas. This volume asserts theoretical models related to research methods and the study of…

Most students leave school with good or acceptable grades in mathematics, despite the fact that very few actually grasp basic mathematical concepts. Schools appear to be providing ways of acquiring the necessary knowledge without promoting true mathematical comprehension. This is made possible by reducing mathematics, cognitively, to a merely…

Outlines a proposed model for understanding the human information processing system, which is conceptualized in terms of three interrelated major elements--executive, working, and long-term memory--with emphasis on the structure of long-term memory. Thirty-one references are listed. (MBR)

Uses a phenomenographic perspective to interpret and integrate the results of relational research in analyzing the experiences of teaching and learning in higher education. Describes conditions associated with two qualitatively different approaches to teaching that are associated with differences in the quality of student learning. Argues that…

Focuses on two secondary students' beliefs and the relationships that emerge from the actions that take place in a classroom. Uses an interpretive approach with the two participating countries, Spain and Costa Rica. Reports that students construct their own theories regarding their role at school and learning and teaching mathematics. (Contains 22…

Examines the notion of "deep" and "surface" approaches to learning and phenomenography, the associated methodology and theory of knowledge; explores reasons for the heightened status of the deep/surface notion within higher education research; discusses problems of phenomenographic research methodology. Introduces the idea of…

Reviews Karmiloff-Smith's "Beyond Modularity," suggesting that her work highlights phenomena that seem counter intuitive when regarded from current developmental frameworks, and advocates that understanding them requires more complex perspectives than can be supported by either extreme nativist or domain-general models of cognitive…

Describes BACEIS (Behavior, Attitudes, Cognition, Environment viewed as Interactive Systems), a comprehensive theoretical model that includes internal and external factors affecting the development, retention, and transfer of thinking and learning skills. Uses of the model in instructional design, to guide research, and to critique existing…

Discusses the value of both objectivity and connection (among college students, between students and teachers, and between students and their work) in various ways of knowing. Explores the nature of connection via studies of women's development. Explains how pedagogy can create contexts for students to learn to use both objectivity and connection.…

This summary chapter organizes recommendations from the first eight chapters of this journal issue into a framework that helps faculty understand and incorporate students' meaning-making into the learning process. Longitudinal data on young adults' learning and development are used to integrate multiple dimensions of development. (Author/DB)

Addresses the influence that science and learning concepts have when teachers are submitted to assessment in an academic program. Reports changes shown by teachers in their epistemological and learning conceptions during the process of instruction. (Author/CCM)

This paper describes the transcendental method of Bernard Lonergan and its relevance to science education in general, and to physics education in particular. Lonergan formulated a cognitional theory, based upon the self-assembling dynamic invariant structure of human knowing, that unfolds the complex relation among knowing, objective knowledge,…

A discussion of language development and its role in the educational process focuses on the ways in which children use language to order experience. It is proposed that if human experience is construed in the form of language, then the way in which language is acquired can give insight into the fundamental nature of learning. These conclusions are…

This paper details a study of knowledge-building activities in the domain of computer software. Thirty-six adults--evenly split among beginning, intermediate, and advanced knowledge levels--were videotaped while they attempted to learn a common spreadsheet package. Subjects were asked to think aloud while learning. Each knowledge building activity…