Four types of proportionality problems were administered to: (1) secondary school students who were enrolled in Project Physics, and (2) students not enrolled in physics. Both samples were randomly selected. Groups were not found to differ significantly in problem solving ability but both revealed that the ability to solve certain problems was…

Debates as to the appropriateness of using the Karplus Islands Puzzle as an instrument to assess formal-operational thought. (CP)

After participating in a 4-week demonstration project focusing on enriching skills in cognition, memory, convergent and divergent thinking, creativity, and problem solving, 68 potentially gifted 4- and 5- year-olds (many from culturally-diverse and/or low socioeconomic backgrounds) made significant gains in their ability to reason with figures and…

Two articles briefly review experiences of secondary schools using DIALOG's Classroom Instruction Program, and four New Jersey school districts that have experimented with using Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service to teach online searching at both the elementary and secondary levels. An annotated bibliography lists 12 relevant journal articles and…

Hypothesizes that the human brain localizes mental operations which are integrated in the performance of cognitive tasks such as reading. Provides support of this hypothesis from studies in neural imaging, mental imagery, timing, and memory. (RT)

Investigates whether children's use of reasoning differs in child-child and adult-child discussions of moral dilemmas. Supports Piaget's contention that moral discussions with peers feature a more spontaneous use of reasoning than do discussions with adults. (HOD)

Describes the approach taken in an education computing course for pre- and in-service teachers. Outlines the basic operational, analytical, and evaluation skills that are emphasized in the course, suggesting that these skills go beyond the attainment of computer literacy and can assist in the effective use of computers. (ML)

We examine a prospective high school teacher's instructional representations of rate of change and right triangle trigonometry to investigate his interpretation and understanding in relation to the development of proportional reasoning. Despite a constant effort by the subject to resort to "real life" examples in order to give meaning to his…

The Context Oriented Training (COT) method is introduced and explored in this paper. COT is a means of improving the training process, beginning with the observation and analysis of current corporate experiences in the field. The learning context lies between the development of professional competencies in training and the operational side in the…

This bulletin offers guidelines to help parents and teachers improve the thinking skills of gifted children. It stresses the importance of encouraging thinking through the use of evocative questions, distinguishes between and defines critical thinking and creative thinking, and offers suggested questions to prompt either creative/divergent…

This paper explores a framework for research on the development of the angle concept based on theories of abstraction. The framework suggests that children initially acquire a body of disconnected angle knowledge situated in everyday experiences, group the situations to form angle contexts, and then form an abstract angle concept. The framework is…

Research was undertaken to determine whether a profile using logical reasoning ability, attitude toward mathematics, and grade point average would distinguish between concrete and formal operational thinking in preservice teachers. Study results provided evidence that preservice elementary and secondary teachers were functioning at different…

Students (N=387) in grades 8, 10, 12, and college were administered eight reasoning items to test hypothesis that the basic logic utilized in individuals in scientific hypothesis testing is the biconditional and that the biconditional is a precondition for development of formal operations. Results and implications for science instruction are…

The relationship between moral thinking at the level of specific rules and precepts and at the abstract, universal level is discussed, and it is argued that the first-level virtues are as necessary as those based on abstraction. The demands of education for moral life in a pluralistic society are considered. (PP)

The validity of Lawrence Kohlberg's empirical findings and of his cognitive developmental approach to understanding moral development is questioned. An alternative theory of moral development which emphasizes moral sensibility as well as reasoned moral judgment is proposed. (PP)