The definition of education and learning has been changing in recent years, as the field experienced, and is still experiencing, many changes. One of those changes is a rise in adult learners in higher education. In order to cope with this particular change and set their classrooms up for success, it is vital for educators to be aware of and…

Summarizes strategies and recommendations included in various prominent instructional theories (behaviorism, Gagne and Briggs' events of instruction, component display theory, cognitive research, and Keller's motivational-design) to provide guidelines for designing the practice component of instruction. (MBR)

The third of four symposium papers argues that, if instructional methods are to improve learning, they must have two aspects: a direct trace to a specific learning process, and empirical support that demonstrates their significance. Focusing on the tracing process, the paper presents an information processing model of learning that can be used by…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of behavioral and cognitive organizing strategies and varied processing intervals on factual and inferential learning. A total of 49 upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, who were randomly assigned to either a cognitive, behavioral, or individual orienting strategy group, received…

In an effort to further explore the experience of understanding from the university perspective, this study examined how British students' understanding was refined and committed to memory during preparation for final examinations. After piloting an interviewing procedure, in-depth interviews were conducted with eleven students from psychology…

Research is reported on the cognitive mediational paradigm which postulates that teachers influence students' learning by causing them to think and behave in particular ways during teaching. Four studies are reported. The first describes five teachers and their students and explores, in classroom lessons, the cognitive processes students used in…

Investigates the developmental differences in spatial exploration and memory, depending on the purposes for which children six- to seven- and eight- to nine-years-old explored the space. The results suggest that children's knowledge of large-scale space is tailored to the purpose of acquiring such information. (Author/BB)

This article discusses the assessment of self-regulated learning processes as students acquire cognitive skills in specific academic domains. Domain-specific assessment is useful for understanding student learning and for planning instructional activities that help to promote it. Although much psychological research has used general measures of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which mastery testing contributes to instructional effectiveness and to determine the size of its effects in different outcome areas, such as aptitude and instructional time. A meta-analytic methodology was used to integrate findings from experimental studies. Twenty studies examined…

The cognitive and affective domains of learning outcomes--i.e., intellectual skills, verbal information, cognitive strategies, and attitudes--are parts of every schema. Located within an individual schema, these capabilities are interrelated, and acquiring one capability is likely to have an effect on other types of capabilities within the same…

The development of computer-based instruction will be greatly facilitated by the use of an effective and efficient design model. Five components of such a model are: (1) the objective; (2) the content; (3) the questions; (4) the boundaries; and (5) the entry skills. A good objective describes either something observable that learners do, the…

Ralph W. Tyler's paper on "Curriculum Development and Research" contains examples of research findings which were or were not used in efforts to change or develop curriculum. The roles, use, and importance of action research, formulation of objectives, planning and organization of learning experiences, program assessment, relationship…

A clearinghouse on mastery learning (CML) has been established at Loyola University (New Orleans, Louisiana) to accommodate the informational needs of mastery learning researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Manual and computer searches on this topic have been conducted in the following databases: ERIC, Education Index, Psychological…

These appendices present the protocols used in research (reported in Volume 1) on the cognitive processes of students while learning from teaching. Curriculum outlines are given for the videotaped lessons used in the second and third studies: lessons in sleep and elementary psychology. Included in the appendices are: (1) the illustrative script…

Suggests programming structures of computer assisted instruction for teaching severely learning disabled students be related to an established educational model. Use of performance contoured programming (PCP), based upon behavioral model of precision teaching, is discussed and contrasted with cognitive programming approaches. PCP applications and…