THIS STUDY INVESTIGATES THE EFFECT OF A TEACHER'S BELIEF OR CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM ON HIS TEACHING METHOD AND ON THE CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE CREATED BY THAT TEACHING METHOD. A BELIEF SYSTEM WAS CHARACTERIZED AS EITHER CONCRETE OR ABSTRACT. A CONCRETE SYSTEM WAS REPRESENTED BY A TENDENCY FOR THE TEACHER'S INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH TO BE MORE STRUCTURED, MORE…

An experiment was conducted on the effects of two teacher variables and student engagement on science achievement. The variables included: teacher wait-time, defined as the length of the pause preceding a teacher utterance; and questioning quality, a generic term used to describe cognitive level, clarity, and relevance of questioning. Thirteen…

In order to determine the cognitive development of Navajo children in terms of Piagetian conservation of number, mass, and continuous quantity, 168 Navajo children at seven different age levels from 5 to adult were presented with a series of three conservation tasks. The tasks consisted of a standard object and an equivalent object that could be…

Two types of items used in student evaluations of college teaching were compared: high-inference items, which require considerable inferring from what is seen or heard in the classroom to labelling of teacher behavior; and moderate-inference items, such as "teacher listens carefully." Two instruments were administered to random halves of…

In a test the presence or absence of a "structure" in the individual's cognitive processes of formal operations thinking, 61 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were administered three tasks supposedly requiring such a method of thinking. The three tasks were (1) a problem solving task (PS), (2) a chemistry task requiring a certain combination…

An experiment in teaching logic to fifth graders using a children's story is reported. Part one of the report develops the experiment's rationale. A lack of reasoning ability among children is perceived and several causes are suggested -- among them a reliance on reading, math, and science as vehicles for reasoning, emphasis on problem solving…

In order to investigate the hypothesis that the conceptualization of sequence precedes that of simultaneity in child development, and to explore the use of elicited imitation in studying lexical acquisition, 32 subjects between 3 and 5 years of age were asked to verbally imitate a list of sentences. The constructions combined simple and reverse…

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that use of a probability unit in ninth-grade general mathematics classes would yield student improvement in computational skill, arithmetic reasoning, and attitude toward mathematics. A 47-page unit on probability (developed for this study) covered basic terminology, probability of events, favorable,…

This research studied the effects of abstract-reasoning ability, degree of bidialectism, and grade level on listening comprehension tasks presented in both Standard English and Black English and on oral reading and oral-reading comprehension tasks presented in Standard English, Black English standard orthography, and Black English nonstandard…

Lectures, outlines, and class exercises are collected from 16 experienced teachers of general semantics in colleges, adult education, and management training. Among the subject areas explored in the sample lessons are high-level abstractions, extensional-intensional meanings, the "is" of identity, listening, classification, labeling, general…

In Piaget's developmental psychology the fourth and highest stage of human cognitive development is that of formal operations. The research on formal thought instruments is outlined. This study was designed to construct and validate paper-and-pencil instruments which could be used to select students capable of abstract conceptualization,…

The suggestion that academic professions ought to be treated as games and that graduate school training should consist of preparation in gamesmanship is in this author's viewpoint, perfectly in keeping with the epistomological revolution. The literature of the 1960's which criticized the scientific world-view is reviewed. Three positions that…

This educational research project is designed to assess an elementary student's quality of reasoning in relation to map skills and to determine spatial concept abilities. 21 activities are designed to test sense of proportion, scale, dimension, accurate relationship, and abstract thinking. The related topographical map, a Map-Study Scoring Key,…

The handbook, capsulizing much of the growing body of research and writing on conceptual approaches, is designed to provide assistance to elementary teachers in giving students a conceptual perspective for dealing with social studies content. The handbook is arranged in seven sections. After a brief discussion of the rationale for teaching…

Evaluation results are reported for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Thinking and Reasoning Program, designed to develop analytic thinking and problem-solving skills in young children in multicultural classroom settings. Results are based on a pilot test of the program conducted during the 1974-75 school year. Mastery activities,…