We have designed model-development sequences using a common context to provide authentic problem-solving experiences for first-year students. The model-development sequence takes a model-eliciting activity a step further by engaging students in the exploration and adaptation of a mathematical model (e.g., procedure, algorithm, method) for solving…

This study investigates the development of an adaptive strategy for estimating numerosity from the theoretical perspective of strategic change. A simple estimation task was used. Participants of 3 different age groups (20 university students, 20 sixth-graders and 10 second-graders) had to estimate 100 numerosities of colored blocks presented in a…

This paper argues that just as imagination has been important for the inception and promotion of invitational education, it is also necessary for the development of inviting research strategies. Applying the educative process to the study of inviting, recommendations are made for relating the constituent parts of the inviting stance (optimism,…

A practical guidebook of ideas, lesson materials, and related resources for developing imaginative and productive thinking skills of children is presented to assist teachers and parents. Emphasis is placed on the use of strategies and techniques that enhance originality, mental imagery, reverie, reflection, humor, novel playfulness, and divergent…

A college English teacher, dissatisfied with the approach used in her composition classes and with its results, turned to the Outward Bound concepts of the German physician and schoolmaster, Kurt Hahn. These concepts include a belief in the value of creating adversity in order to overcome it, a belief that important things happen to people who are…

Although teachers may sequence instructions carefully, they are unable to respond to the complex unique experience of each individual learner. Divergent production should be an instructional choice that enables individuals to learn through their own recall and idea construction. Learning is problem solving; when individuals do not know how to deal…

The Children's Museum in Boston developed MATCH Boxes (Materials and Activities for Teachers and Children) to provide self-contained, multi-media kits for elementary school use. The project sought to determine an optimum balance of activities and various media which would involve the student directly in the learning process and would make use of…

The crucial variable in good classroom teaching is the verbal behavior of the teacher. Through his questioning techniques--what questions he asks, how and when he asks them, how he replies to students, and how he stimulates students to reply to each other--the teacher can evoke a high level of class discussion and force students to go beyond the…

This book is concerned with language as it is used by the teacher, as it affects the learner, and as it can function to integrate the curriculum. Douglas Barnes, in "Language in the Secondary Classroom," discusses the student-teacher language interaction in 12 sample lessons, and analyzes the importance upon student learning of the languages used…

The Children's Museum in Boston developed MATCH Boxes (Materials and Activities for Teachers and Children) to provide self-contained, multi-media kits for elementary school use. The project sought to determine an optimum balance of activities and various media which would involve the student directly in the learning process and would make use of…

What better way is there to learn about something than to hold it, examine it, and take it apart? The Match Box Project (Materials and Activities for Teachers and Children) loans to schools a series of boxes which contain materials, equipment, supplies, and activities designed as a unit to foster the teaching/learning of specific subjects at the…

The major results and conclusions of a program of research concerned primarily with the relationship of cognitive abilities to learning are summarized. The major purpose of this research was to develop theorems of instruction related to the interaction of task variables and individual difference variables and to develop them in a manner relevant…

Curriculum guidelines are given for social studies instruction in primary grades in New South Wales. No compulsory topics are suggested, but the rationale, objectives, and areas of inquiry provide a framework within which teachers can work. Based on the assumption that social studies should contribute to the development of individuals who can…

Reports on a study to determine the interaction effects of selected personality characteristics, science achievement, and two classroom climates, one which encouraged discovery learning and one that did not. Demonstrated that student achievement is influenced by dynamic interactions within classrooms. (TW)

Describes the basic principles of the Personal Discovery Approach to motivating students (individuation, tasks, journey, imagery, dreams) and program modules (survival strategies, autobiographical work, "Express Yourself,""Experimental Listening," value clarification, "Group Time,""Human…