Describes recent turn in media research to functionalist perspective and brings into focus insights into learning mechanisms that might provide benefits to educational technology researchers. Learning factors that media could facilitate are discussed: self-regulation, conflict resolution and reflexive abstraction; coordination of correspondences…

This paper discusses various educational strategies for interactive videodisc design that were derived through scanning, synthesizing, and simplifying implications from a wide variety of learning theories. Four initial assumptions about videodisc technology are presented: (1) videodisc systems are more likely to be effective if learning theories…

Traces history of instructional technology, including Skinner's work, Gagne's task analytic approach, and contemporary efforts associated with the cognitive revolution. It is suggested that an understanding of cognitive development improves earlier approaches by adapting them directly to students' cognitive development levels. Recent instructional…

Describes instructional design as a high-level thinking process to provide more information on the way instructional design is learned and actually practiced. Topics discussed include cognitive psychology, design models, planning, schema theory, development of expertise, metacognition, problem solving, and implications for training and future…

Drawing on the exam responses from a graduate teacher education course, this paper analyzes four general difficulties teachers have in implementing inductive teaching methods. Based on Piaget's model of how children learn, inductive teaching is an instructional methodology that begins with concrete instances of a concept, and encourages learners…

Discusses the importance of teaching thinking skills in a rapidly changing environment and describes a framework for developing school material that cultivates decision-making skills. An instructional model that describes decision-making strategies, necessary cognitive skills, and the educational objectives for the promotion of each skill is…

Identifies four characteristics of a cognitive model of learning (short-term and long-term memory, use of cognitive strategies, and dual information processing), and examines this model's implications for educational broadcast television design. This review focuses on research studies with instructional implications for pacing, cueing, modeling,…

This review of cognitive development research in the area of computer-based reading instruction focuses on reinforcement and instructional objectives. Differences between extrinsic and intrinsic reinforcement and motivation are discussed, types of objectives and learner characteristics are described, and implications for instructional design are…

Defines cognitive computer tools as software programs that use the control capabilities of computers to amplify, extend, or enhance human cognition; suggests seven ways in which computers can aid learning; and describes the "Learning Tool," a software package for the Apple Macintosh microcomputer that is designed to aid learning of…

This study aimed at finding the optimal condition of written instruction and online practice for learning a new computer application. Subjects were 44 undergraduate and graduate students and university staff members. Those in the experimental group learned commands for an electronic spreadsheet by reading user-manual descriptions and working…

Progress is reported on research conducted in school settings to investigate methods to help students--especially at-risk students--to acquire and use knowledge to solve problems. The methods incorporate principles of learning and instruction derived from basic research on cognition. Specifically, the research involves using microcomputer and…

A learning cycle consists of three phases: exploration; conceptual invention; and expansion of an idea. These phases parallel Piaget's functioning model of assimilation, disequilibrium and accomodation, and organization respectively. The learning cycle perceives students as actors rather than reactors to the environment. Inherent in that…