Good college teachers are masters of their subjects; are organized, prepared, and clear; demonstrate that they know and care about their students as individuals; display listening skills; create a positive environment for learning; and relate abstract ideas to the realities of everyday life. (JB)

Describes three activities that the teacher can employ to help students develop thinking skills through mathematics instruction: (1) memorization using the technique of chunking; (2) higher order thinking with magic squares; and (3) predicting games. Identifies eight facets of the teacher's role in promoting thinking skills. (MDH)

Science is at heart a rational activity. Reasoning, being an important component of critical thinking has been successfully taught using Socratic methods. As an approach, the instructor or designer of instruction models an inquiring and probing mind focusing on providing questions and not answers. The main aim has been to allow learners to…

This study describes the learning of researchers who engage in mathematics teacher education as an integral part of their practice. As teacher educators working with teachers on the subject of proportional reasoning, the authors reflected on teachers solutions to a standard problem and analyzed answers that would conventionally be considered…

This study examined cognitive processes and outcomes associated with student knowledge base development. Sixty-nine students from two grade 8 classes were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a knowledge base development (KBD) group, a problem-solving software group, and a control group. Those in the KBD group received relevant instruction…

This evaluation of the 1988-89 Instrumental Enrichment (IE) program in selected special education classrooms in Detroit (Michigan) found that the program was partially successful in achieving its goals. IE uses a series of paper-and-pencil exercises and follow-up discussions to increase participants' academic achievement, improve behavior, and…

As human understanding is largely metaphorical, what metaphor is, how children use it, and how they can be taught to use it more effectively are important educational concerns. A direct or indirect comparison between two apparently unlike things, metaphor consists of a topic, a vehicle of comparison, and ground--or traits--linking the topic and…

Using techniques of inference appraisal suggested by T. A. van Dijk and R. J. Sternberg, a study investigated whether by assigning particular writing tasks it would be possible to influence the way readers produce inferences about a text. Subjects, 52 ninth grade students, read especially prepared booklets and completed either a paraphrasing,…

After presenting a research review indicating that English as a second language (ESL) secondary school students need to improve their thinking skills, this paper reports on a study in which 136 analogies were developed for use as tools to teach these students to read at inferential and applied levels. The vocabulary source for the analogies was…

This paper summarizes a report designed to provide the National Science Board Commission with information about recent advances in cognitive/behavioral science relevant to mathematics, science, and technology education, as well as prospective contributions from these fields if adequate levels of support are available. Following a summary…

As part of an investigation of the effectiveness of a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) activity in developing students' graphing skills, this study was specifically designed to examine the differences between females and males in both performance on graphing tasks and on their attitudes to graphs and graph-based activities. Results based on a…

A 3-year study was conducted to determine the logical reasoning processes necessary to construct line graphs. Responses obtained from middle and high school science and mathematics students were classified into one of nine categories. These categories ranged from "no attempt to make a graph" to "complete graph with a statement of a…

Initially differentiating ideas of self-concept, personality, and self-esteem, this paper discusses the development of the self from infancy through adolescence. The discussion of infancy focuses on learning about bodily self and related disruptions and describes the emergence of the social and independent self. The discussion of toddlers and…

Students' abstract reasoning abilities can differ from one society to another. Students' profiles play significant roles in these differences. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between middle school students' cognitive development levels and their profiles (age, gender, and science achievement) using the Science Cognitive…

A four-year longitudinal study of concept attainment and uses of concepts, as specified by the Conceptual Learning and Development Model, is described. Data collected during the first two years were based upon the assessment of the concept, equilateral triangle. The assessment battery was administered to 351 children (grades K, 3, 6, and 9) in…