The brain undergoes profound development across childhood and adolescence, including continuous changes in brain morphology, connectivity, and functioning that are, in part, dependent on one's experiences. These neurobiological changes are accompanied by significant changes in children's and adolescents' cognitive learning. By drawing from studies…

Personality results from the complex interactions among multiple learning and memory systems. There is a need to examine the personality-learning association using a personality model that captures this complexity: Cloninger's psychobiological model. The study addresses this need using a person-centered approach. In total, 686 adolescents…

Introduces Flow Theory as framework for understanding authentic engagement. The individual learner's quality of experience should be an essential criterion for judging efficacy of educational challenge. Flow Theory emphasizes that our most powerful experiences of engagement are shared; they involve us with activities matching our capabilities and…

In recent research, sequences of hypotheses observed during problem-solving have been categorized according to six hypothesis sampling systems that vary in efficiency. Three systems were characterized as strategies (focus, dimension check, hypothesis check) because they always lead eventually to solution. The remainder were called stereotypes…

This study examined the conditions for the selection of certain communication strategies in terms of the inferencing ability of the learner, the formal proficiency level attained, and the features of the communicative situation (task requirements). Two groups of 17-year-olds--one studying advanced French and the other French as part of a "core"…

This document was prepared to help parents, educators, and concerned citizens better understand how children and adolescents actually learn. True learning involves: (1) developing a passion for learning; (2) acquiring communication skills; (3) constructing new knowledge; (4) taking part in concrete activities; and (5) developing problem solving…

An inservice training project has been designed for secondary school teachers who deal with emotionally disturbed adolescents in their regular classrooms. The objective of the training is for teachers to develop generic affective competencies for creating an affective classroom climate, managing conflicts and crises, and using positive classroom…