This study explored the moral reasoning and scientific argumentation of 31 Finnish adolescents gifted in science. In qualitative essays and interviews, the pupils were asked to identify moral dilemmas in science and provide solutions to them. Two illustrative cases of students' argumentation who had either average or high scores on the Defining…

The 16 units of this book are designed as textbook supplements to encourage students to think mathematically and as mathematicians. Each unit begins with an orientation session which raises general concerns that always occur within mathematical exploration. This is followed by a short, original text in which a mathematician creates a particular…

The study is described which examined quantitative and qualitative differences among learning disabled (LD) subgroups and between LD and normal Ss in reasoning and problem solving behaviors. The research strategy involved (1) detailed analyses of the behavior of subgroups of LD adolescents and of matched normal achieving adolescents in a task…

This document reorts on an educational research study involving 75 eighth-grade students to determine the effects of problem solving instruction on the ability of students to apply proportional reasoning in problem situations. Results suggest that changes in basic reasoning skills such as proportional reasoning are long term, highly dependent on…

The designs, results, and conclusions of several related research studies which examine the role of student preferences in problem-solving strategies are summarized. Emphasis is upon the relationship between an individual's stated preference and his or her ability to implement this preference and successfully solve a related science task. Students…

This paper reports further on the study described in SE 019 717. Correlational data relating success on proportionality tasks to understanding of related concepts and processes are presented. The five correlative tests involve (1) reducing fractions, (2) multiplying fractions, (3) facility with fractions, (4) inverse relations, and (5) more…

This ten chapter book is designed to provide high school students with an understanding of basic communication processes. The first five chapters include discussions of language development, function, and acquisition in relation to both human and non-human communication. The sixth chapter contains specimen linguistic analyses of speech and…

Together with other publications in this series, this handbook addresses the issue of humanizing education. Specifically, discussion focuses on the role of critical thinking and reasoning in the educational process. Part one outlines reasons, requirements, and methods for teaching critical thinking and reasoning and connects critical thinking with…

Argues against the claim that Piaget's theory of formal thought is invalid when used in learning high school chemistry, and suggests a way to test its validity. (GA)

Reports on the administration of a biology cognitive preference test to 177 science-oriented high school students. Subjects were asked to rank responses or "extension statements" to items according to their preference. It was found that the high-ability students as a group had a very high preference for questioning and low preference for recall.…

Investigated proportional reasoning of a select group of older, college-bound adolescents on a task set in a geometric/spatial context with a multiple-proportion, multiplicative structure. Sex-related differences and the influence of course experience in mathematics and science were also investigated. (JN)

Data from 60 observations of 10 teachers and 10 each of their students showed that type/quality of teaching strategy predicted 37 percent of variance in engagement and that the more indirect the teaching strategy, the greater the students' involvement in learning tasks. Implications of these and other findings are discussed. (Author/JN)

A lesson on the French Revolution illustrates how reading, writing, reasoning, and researching skills can be integrated into history instruction. (RM)

A test was given to 322 secondary students to develop a profile of mathematical ability based on four components: computation, pattern recognition, logical reasoning, and symbolic manipulation. These profiles were compared to mathematics test scores; the results verified hypotheses about individual differences in mental processes and knowledge…

An experiment was designed to find out whether there were any quantitative and qualitative differences in the spoken discourse of 'high' and 'low' ability 16-year-old pupils in discussions of problems arising from textual material. Cognitive, linguistic and quantitative analyses of the discourse were carried out. (Editor)