Around 1960, there were quite radical changes in emphasis in many countries in school chemistry education, with subsequent changes in many university courses. Considerable research was undertaken to explore the learning problems students were reporting and the common thread underlying became apparent: it related to the way humans process new…

Describes a classroom technique that promotes higher levels of thought and enhances learning in graduate and undergraduate teacher education classes. (DF)

A study among college students investigated the effects on the developing knowledge system of the second-language learner of two different types of instruction: instruction as manipulation of output, and as structured or focused input processing. Results support the input-processing perspective and the salience of the role of input. (43…

Conjoint retention and confluency are examined as psychological and pedagogical principles for use in instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL) when maps are used as facilitators. The theory of conjoint retention states that dual encoding occurs when a person hears or reads a narrative while simultaneously viewing a map containing…

Two studies examined the effects of writing on subject learning. For the first study, 322 ninth and eleventh grade students read passages from high school social studies and science texts and engaged in six writing-to-study conditions. Students who wrote essays scored lower on immediate topic knowledge posttests, while the students who used study…

Describes the contents of a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Ideas: A Guide to Encouraging Creativity which considers the thinking process, why skills need to be developed, and how students use or should use these thinking skills. (RT)

Explores the usefulness of an alternative writing approach using a spatial-verbal technique called node-link mapping. In this process the student diagrams nodes, which contain key ideas and propositions, and links, which convey relations such as, leads to, part of, and example. Includes diagrams and examples. (MJP)