Reacting to the Past is a pedagogy involving collaborative role playing in history-based games over a semester. This article presents results from a systematic assessment of this novel pedagogy conducted in 3 phases following student focus group interviews. Interviews indicated that the method was generally popular compared with traditional…

Examined effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. Teachers were assigned randomly to three groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Group differences were identified at the end of…

Results revealed a disordinal interaction such that while the teacher-centered mode optimized learning for high-anxious students, the student-centered approach resulted in superior exam performance for low-anxious students. (Authors)

Three functions that might explain why analogies are effective reading aids are described. Six experiments using elementary, secondary, and college students are reported which address the use of analogies as reading aids. Performance improvement, reading time, effects of restrictive time conditions, and aptitude treatment interactions are…

Cognitive and affective data for about 200 college students taught by a self-paced testing method were compared with data for students taught by the traditional lecture method. Results corroborate contemporary experimental evidence concerning the determinants of achievement and indicate some advantages of the self-paced method. (Author/RD)

In order to examine the influence of interactive media on children's story memory, first-grade children experienced a computer-based story in one of four presentation modes, two of which were interactive. In the interaction groups, there was no relation between the amount of interaction with the story and subsequent memory. (Author)

An adult read to 12 children from a regular paper book. Twenty-four children explored a similar electronic book. For half of this group, the electronic book was with and for half without restrictions on games. Regular book format was more supportive of learning story content and phrasing; both formats supported internalization of features of…

One hundred forty fourth graders were asked to solve proportion problems about juice-mixing situations both before and after an intervention that used a manipulative model or other materials in three experiments. Results indicate different approaches appear to be necessary to facilitate children's proportional reasoning, depending on the reasoning…

Learning disabled and slowly developing readers were assigned to reading instruction programs on context cue use differing only in extent of pupil control over determination of errors. Results indicated no main effect for experimental condition. Interaction was found, however, between pretreatment locus of attribution and experimental condition.…

Examined effects of conceptually based instruction on development of students' procedural flexibility. Students in primary schools in the Netherlands participated in one of two instruction programs: the Realistic Program Design (RPD) or the Gradual Program Design (GPD). In both programs, conceptual understanding preceded procedural skill. However,…

Aptitude-treatment interactions in large- and small-group learning situations were investigated. Students who initially preferred small groups did worse in that approach than in the large-group approach. High- and low-ability students did better and had more positive attitudes in the small- and large-group approaches, respectively. (Author/RD)