Educational practice does not, for the most part, rely on research findings. Instead, there's a preference for relying on our intuitions about what's best for learning. But relying on intuition may be a bad idea for teachers and learners alike. This accessible guide helps teachers to integrate effective, research-backed strategies for learning…

Suggestions are offered for applying learning techniques for a variety of learning situations. The approaches are applicable to learning medical school content as well as other advanced educational content. Ways to control external distractors are suggested, including a systematic approach to completing large tasks, such as writing a research…

Describes a study technique that encourages college students to develop their own strategies for improving their study skills. (MKM)

Points out problems associated with the language of textbooks and the development of reading-related skills (e.g., reading maps and charts). Discusses specific teaching strategies for coping with textbook language and facilitating text comprehension and memory. (JM)

Discusses strategies designed to improve elementary school children's memory and comprehension of text. The strategies include summarization, representation, mnemonic imagery, story grammar, question generation, question answering, and prior knowledge activation. (RJC)

A discussion of the Total Physical Response method of second language instruction places the concept within the context of other unconventional language learning methods, reviews the rationale behind the approach, and outlines the classroom procedures used. A sampling of useful commands for classroom use is included. (19 references) (MSE)

The literature on metacognition and students having learning problems is reviewed. Investigations of metacognitive instruction to enhance memory skills, to increase text comprehension, and to improve written expression and math performance are reported. The roles of the teacher and learner in acquiring and controlling the targeted cognitive…

Describes a process of chunking information whereby information is clustered into more compact thought units, such as phrases or clauses, and is then reformed into increasingly larger units of information. Notes that this technique is useful in aiding students to read subject area material. (MKM)

Learning-disabled and average readers (n=120) from grades four through six completed comprehension questions under one of four treatment conditions. Results indicated that computer-mediated text was no better than off-line conditions in improving learning-disabled readers' comprehension. Attribution and metacognitive sophistication were…

Discusses the organization and retrieval of information. Describes the tip-of-the-tongue state during mathematics problem solving. Provides five rules for a deep level of processing of new concepts. (YP)

Discusses three strategies that help students remember information from the author's point of view: webbing, pyramiding, and think sheets. Notes that each strategy highlights superordinate ideas and shows how ideas relate to each other. Offers instructional techniques for using the three strategies. (FL)

Provides suggestions for note-taking from books, lectures, visual presentations, and laboratory experiments to enhance student knowledge, memory, and length of attention span during instruction. Describes topical and structural outlines, visual mapping, charting, three-column note-taking, and concept mapping. Benefits and application of…

Thirty learning-disabled students in grades five-eight read several passages and attempted to identify and remember main ideas. Students were assigned to one to three conditions: control, monitoring and self-questioning, or mnemonic. The monitoring strategy was most effective for main-idea finding, whereas the mnemonic strategy was most effective…

Reports on a study of four Australian 11th-grade biology students that used stimulated recall to evaluate student thinking processes.The study confirmed the complexity of the teaching-learning process. (MD)

This book describes specific ways for teachers to assist their students in mastering skills needed for success in school. It is based upon the belief that thinking can be improved, human intellect sharpened, and academic ability increased. A case for study skills is made in Chapter I. Chapter II provides guidelines for the immediate improvement of…