This study investigated approaches to teaching social studies in Western Australian high schools. A conceptual scheme for teaching social studies, based on recognized orientations to the subject is presented. States that the results have implications for teachers, curriculum developers, and evaluators in the context of innovation and change…

Explains the relationship between how children learn clock, calendar, and historical time skills and concepts. An alternative view of how temporal and historical understandings affect the teaching of history called the developmental-historical time view is proposed. (BSR)

This study examines the role of internal factors in curricular decisions of elementary teachers regarding current events instruction. The causes of poor teacher news awareness are discussed. Recommendations for improvement include efforts in teacher training, testing, recruitment, and mandating of current events instruction. (Author/BSR)

A theory is proposed for how students develop competence with the written symbols of decimal fractions. Competence is viewed as the cumulative and sequential mastery of four separate cognitive processes. The theory was tested with small groups of students, most of whom were able to acquire the first two processes. (MNS)

Forty first-grade teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of children's solutions of addition and subtraction word problems was investigated. Most teachers could identify many of the critical distinctions between problems, and the primary strategies used to solve them, but did not have a coherent organizational scheme. (MNS)

Ten teachers successfully taught first- and second-grade children to count up while keeping track with finger patterns. Learning to subtract by counting up greatly improved children's performance on take-away, compare, and equalize word problems, and enabled them to accelerate by as much as three years their learning of subtraction topics. (MNS)

Assignment projects for high-achieving ninth graders were developed, and a comparative evaluation study indicated that they were effective. It bacame clear that teachers needed more practical support, so a diagnostic study was undertaken, leading to the establishment of a link between a categorization of student difficulties and a hierarchy of…

Examined were the effects of student cognitive entry behavior, prescribed mastery level, and information about criterion on mathematics achievement. Studied were 36 third graders assigned to four levels of being informed. Findings differed for children at low and high entry levels. (MNS)

The grade placement of topics in addition and subtraction was compared across the five countries through analysis of textbooks. "Remarkable" uniformity in grade placement was noted for Japan, China, the Soviet Union, and Taiwan, but the United States differed substantially. (MNS)

A student was observed practicing arithmetic with a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system. She enjoyed practice and believed that it helped. However, she consistently failed to solve problems on the computer that she could do with pencil and paper. This paper suggests reasons for her problems and draws implications for CAI. (Author/PK)

Formative validation methods were used with over 90 mathematics teachers in Utah to design an assessment of the mathematical and mathematics teaching cognitive competencies of underprepared middle and secondary school mathematics teachers. A summative validation study using 47 subjects indicated that the test was valid and reliable. (Author/PK)

Argues that computer instantiations of abstract concepts could assist mathematics education by providing concrete experiences and by inducing the mental process of construction that Piaget called reflexive abstraction. College students with computer experiences scored higher than those taught with traditional methods on a test of functions and…

College students were asked to write equations using one of two sets of notational systems. Results indicate that the use of more explicit notation did not help problem-solving performance. (Author/PK)

A plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the Agenda for Action of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is presented. Major dimensions of the evaluation model, research questions related to each agenda recommendation, approaches to an evaluation, and the dissemination of the agenda are considered. (MNS)

An evaluation of a problem-solving program was conducted with 46 fifth- and seventh-grade teachers. Classes using the program scored significantly higher than control classes on measures of ability to understand problems, plan solution strategies, and get correct results. Different growth patterns and attitude changes were also noted. (MNS)