We can now get purposefully directed in the way we assess our learners in light of the emergence of evidence from the field of neuroscience. Why higher-order learning or abstract concepts need to be the focus in assessment is elaborated using the knowledge of semantic and episodic memories. With most of our learning identified to be implicit, why…

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" was published and its…

The ability to perform relational proposition-based reasoning was assessed in younger and older adults using the transitive inference task in which subjects learned a series of premise pairs (A greater than B, B greater than C, C greater than D, D greater than E, E greater than F) and were asked to make inference judgments (B?D, B?E, C?E).…

Proposes a variant of mental model theory which suggests that the development of conditional reasoning (if--then) can be explained by such factors as the capacity of working memory, range of knowledge available to a reasoner, and his/her ability to access this knowledge "on-line." Finds much empirical data explained by this model.…

This study delineates modes of thinking that differentiate exceptionally gifted children from more moderately gifted peers. Cognitive differences include viewing the simple as complex, a need for precision, viewing the complex as simple, abstract reasoning ability, early grasp of essential elements of an issue, high capacity for empathy,…

The effectiveness of coaching active reasoning of students with learning disabilities was studied with 63 grade 4 and 5 students. Students in the coaching condition outperformed students in the two comparison conditions on immediate and one-week delayed tests of factual information and explanations. (Author/SW)

The purpose of this paper is to review literature on analogical reasoning, to work out the implications of Polya's model of analogical problem solving, and to propose an alternative model of instructional design based on the use of analogical reasoning. Justification of the model is based on research on the nature of analogical thought and an…

A study involving 31 adults with Down syndrome investigated their ability to reason. Results found they did not differ from typically developing children, matched on expressive and verbal ability, in transitivity and non-verbal analogical thinking; however, they did differ in categorical reasoning, classical verbal analogies, and short-term…

Two studies examined young children's ability to understand whether the actions of artifacts, insects, mammals, or humans were caused by mental or physical states. The studies suggest that children abstract specific features of action when construing its cause across disparate situations and actors. (MDM)

Questionnaires were completed by 100 parents of kindergarten-age children whom the parents thought to be mathematically precocious. Five factors were found to characterize responses: (1) general intellectual factor; (2) short- and long-term memory; (3) rote memory; (4) spatial reasoning; and (5) specific relational knowledge. Parents were able to…

Seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities (n=29) who reasoned through factual prose sentences did not recall more information than students who were prompted to try to remember the content after each sentence. However, students trained in thinking skills produced more correct explanations of the information than control…

One purpose of this research is to develop models of cognitive processes in understanding mechanical systems. A particular focus was on the processes in mentally animating the representation of a mechanical system, and the contribution of animation graphics in comprehension. Several studies, involving eye fixations, verbal protocols, and process…

The Cognitive Levels Test, for use with ages 5-21, is designed as a quick cognitive assessment instrument with 4 subdomains: verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and memory. This paper describes the test's administration, summation of data, standardization, reliability, and validity. (JDD)

The Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale measures four areas of cognitive abilities (verbal reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and short-term memory), providing a continuous scale for appraising cognitive development from age two to adult. This paper describes the test's administration, standardization, reliability, and…