The article draws from 199 sources on assessment, learning, and motivation to present a detailed decomposition of the values, theories, and goals of formative assessment. This article will discuss the extent to which formative feedback actualizes and reinforces self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies among students. Theoreticians agree that SRL…

The authors have been engaged in research focused on students' depth of learning as well as teachers' efforts to foster deep learning. Findings from a study examining the teaching practices and student learning outcomes of sixty-four teachers in seventeen different states (Smith et al. 2005) indicated that most of the learning in these classrooms…

The article examines whether the material-appropriate processing approach can anticipate and explain the mnemonic effects of elaborative encoding tasks and study adjuncts for less able learners. Evidence suggests that less able learners are not capable of spontaneously exploiting the affordances of the to-be-learned material without appropriate…

The Reflections on Learning Inventory (RoLI) is an instrument designed to capture variation in students' engagement of learning--typically in a given disciplinary context or topic-specific 'episode'. Although the RoLI has been employed as a research instrument in a number of published studies on the modelling of student learning in higher…

Reviews literature on (1) prerequisite skills students should develop prior to learning a textbook-study system, (2) teaching activities undertaken before introducing a system to a class, and (3) recommended procedures for teaching SQ3R. (FL)

Presents suggestions for helping students broaden their learning skills: tell students you plan to help them learn to learn, hold class discussions where students share learning strategies, give students practice using unfamiliar learning strategies, pick a complex learning exercise and present it in steps, and vary your approach over the course…

Presents placement test results showing a lack of understanding of basic math concepts among entering college students. Explains the application of the learning cycle model in teaching abstract mathematical concepts and offers examples of the model's use. (DMM)

Intended for practitioners, this book provides a valuable resource by offering teachers a volume of practical exercises for introducing and reinforcing a variety of fundamental thinking skills. Each exercise allows teachers and students in grades six through nine to focus on a selected thinking skill while serving as a stimulant for thoughtful…

An illustration of the cognitive theory of inquiry teaching is presented in this paper in a tutorial dialogue on the nature of lenses. After a description of the goals of the method, the paper discusses the following ten general strategies inquiry teachers use to accomplish the goals: (1) selecting positive and negative exemplars, (2) varying…

Describes the use of student-generated questions to enhance learning in a freshman-level communication skills course. As class exercises, students were asked to develop questions about an assigned reading, to analyze the questions, and to map the questions to identify important textual elements and various levels of thinking about the text. (DMM)

In library instruction, as in any instructional setting, individual learning styles should be addressed to ensure better learning and retention. Historical examination of learning styles research suggests that in order to appreciate the diversity of students' learning styles and to apply this understanding in a library or information environment,…

Part of a collection of papers commissioned by Foundations, a career development project sponsored by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), the paper reviews research on transfer of knowledge and skills from one situation to another. A transfer classification scheme is proposed based on the notion that an individual's knowledge can…

Programs to teach students critical thinking must empower them to be self-directed, but they must also stress respect and empathy for the viewpoints of others. (Author/TE)

Thinking tools bring sound instructional theory into the classroom in a practical form that students and teachers both enjoy using. Six such tools are described that have the general characteristics of psychological validity, concreteness, relevance to teachers, and differentiation by type of learning. (TE)

Suggests basic principles to guide the construction of an integrated sequential guide for thinking skills instruction throughout the K-12 curriculum. Strategies emphasize introducing and reinforcing cognitive operations such as information processing, problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. (TE)