This book provides an opportunity for researchers, professionals, and practitioners working directly with gifted individuals to engage with and examine the concept of underachievement of highly capable and talented individuals from different perspectives. Chapters written by experts in gifted education from diverse backgrounds explore…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

This paper examines and critiques several learning style inventories (LSI) in an effort to find the optimal research instrument for a proposed empirical study of both the quality of courseware and the impact of courseware characteristics on variations of learning effectiveness due to learner characteristics. Five LSIs are examined: (1) Dunn LSI;…

This study compared 28 preadolescents, either with or without learning disabilities (LD). Students with LD had less effective monitoring skills, lower attributions to effort, and a wider range of depressive symptoms. Results are discussed in relation to Borkowski's model that relates behavioral patterns of children facing school tasks with…

Microcomputers have presented instructional designers with an ideal tool with which to deliver individualized instruction. With a few exceptions, however, the results of cognitive styles research do not provide sufficient conclusions upon which to make design decisions. Critically missing in many studies is an explication of the conceptual binding…

Reports two studies comparing responses of Filipino and Nepalese students to learning process questionnaires to those for Australian and Hong Kong students. Presents evidence for a similar structure of learning processes in each culture. Concludes that little evidence supports the contention that Asian learners are more prone to rote learning than…

Discussion of variables that affect successful completion of external degree programs focuses on a study that investigated the association between learning style and persistence among students from the University of Wisconsin System Extended Degree Programs. Literature on distance education is reviewed, and results of the study are analyzed. (35…

The Luria-Das Information Processing Model of human learning holds that information is analysed and coded within the brain in either a simultaneous or a successive fashion. Simultaneous integration refers to the synthesis of separate elements into groups, often with spatial characteristics; successive integration means that information is…

Describes a study in Nigeria comparing achievement in biology with a student's preference for cooperative or competitive learning situations. Proposes that rural children prefer cooperative learning strategies while urban children prefer competitive ones. Presents data proposing that learning preference (cooperative vs competitive) directly…

Describes a study that involved a search for a model for the teaching of musical composition to students with some prior experience. Recounts in detail the way students approached the task of composing music, and the compositions they produced. Offers several recommendations for reforming composition instruction. (MJP)

A study was designed to investigate the complex interrelationship of factors that affect university students' academic achievement. The study used a sample population of 72 students who were enrolled in first year Nursing and Teacher Education courses in 1991 at the Flinders University of South Australia. From data gathered over 2 years, a…

Describes a British study with undergraduate accountancy students which compared the quantitative and qualitative effects of three types of embedded tasks or questions--relational-semantic, transpose-semantic, and non-semantic--on learning outcomes. Variables investigated included mathematical background, recall, and comprehension. Relevance of…

Data from 211 adult students (ages 20 to 75) at the Open University, The Netherlands, were used to construct and test an instrument to measure learning styles and regulation processes. Test development was guided by a three-tiered model of self-regulation encompassing: (1) cognitive learning processes (deep, surface, elaborative); (2) regulation…

Describes the structure and philosophy of the National History Curriculum in England, which went into effect in September 1991. Argues that its mechanistic approach and assessment program has little to do with realities of the classroom or students' historical understanding. Presents an alternative method for assessing students' historical…

A project was undertaken to develop, field test, and revise strategies for adult beginning readers (ABRs). During the first phase of the study, the researchers identified roadblocks to use of word recognition clues by ABRs. Based on data and feedback from local and state piloting and general principles of learning, the project staff developed the…