No abstract

SynopsisThe purpose of this study was to determine if instruction on excluding irrelevant variables enhanced learning the principle that explained why objects Boat and sink. The results of the study show that learning the correct principle without first learning to exclude the false principles is not as effective as learning to exclude the false principles and then learning the correct principle. The data also indicate that the presentation of the verbal principle in the program enhanced achievement on the concept criterion test.

Evidence favoring the conceptual sequence 4'momentum+conservatwn of matter+proportional use of mass and velocity+velocity" ispresented. Theoretical issues can be resolved via well-designed research !

Ninety‐six children from the third grade through the sixth grade were given speed tasks and acceleration tasks. The results of the study suggest that the speed and acceleration tasks that require intensive logical operations could be used by the third and fourth grade children. The data also indicate that the speed and acceleration tasks that use extensive logical operations could be used by some fifth and sixth grade children.

During the past seven years my students and I have been engaged in a series of research studies concerned with the facditation of logical operations in elementary school and junior high school children. The assumption behind all of this research is that the level of reasoning used for inquiry and concept acquisition by every individual is substantially below his capacity. Research with children in two different socioeconomic groups indicated that there are increasing differences in achievement on classification tasks between the low and the high groups with an increase in age.' The increasing differences in achievement between the groups with increasing differences in their ages suggests that one group may be encountering an environment that stimulates achievement on these cognitive tasks. The classification tasks were related to content tasks with which the children were working in school. In order to help chddren to achieve on these cognitive tasks, a series of instructional materials was constructed to teach for a variety of cognitive operations. The overall results of these investigations have been quite positive, indicating that achievement on tasks using Piaget's logical operations can be facilitated through the use of structured or programmed instruction techniques.One of the implications of this research is that the use of logical operations in science instruction may enhance the acquisition and comprehension of science concepts whose structure corresponds to these logical operations. 1 am not suggesting that all of science instruction should be concerned with the use of these logical operations. However, many children are having problems acquiring and comprehending some science concepts because they do not understand the logical relationships that make up the concepts. Instruction on the logical operations involved with some science concepts has enhanced achievement on these concepts. It seems reasonable that science instruction should become more involved in the teaching of these logical operations. Teaching students the process of science inquiry has been one of the major goals in most of the new science curricula. Inquiry demands that the student construct his own rules to describe events and objects. If students are to effectively engage in inquiry about their world, appropriate teaching techniques must be used to enhance the quality of their ideas.The Nature of Piaget's Logical Operations How can we assist students in the acquisition of science concepts? Piaget describes one possibility: helping children to manipulate the parts of a concept and to put them together in different ways.2 For example, the concept of work is acquired in this operative fashion when 25 1