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This study examined the science process skill of prediction problem solving using naturalistic research methodology and information-processing theory. The think-aloud interview led to the identification of several specific program exploration and prediction behaviors. A total of 14 high school biology students made predictions concerning the effects of the independent variables upon dependent variables through time using a computer simulation on water pollution. Students were identified according to initial knowledge of the subject matter and success at solving three selected prediction problems. Successful predictors generally had high initial knowledge of the subject matter and were formal. Unsuccessful predictors generally had low initial knowledge of the subject matter and were concrete. High initial knowledge seemed to be more important to predictive success than stage of Piagetian cognitive development. Behavioral tendencies between successful and unsuccessful predictors over all stages of the learning sequence and between stage one and stage three predictions were compared. Implications for problem-solving theory, cognitive development, and science teaching were discussed. (Author/YP)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert