Describes the development of an information-literacy curriculum that incorporates media and technology by media specialists in the Mankato Area Public Schools (Minnesota). Topics include identifying current skills; the Big Six information-processing model; grouping skills within the model; curriculum integration; projects to replace traditional…

Recent assessment research joining cognitive psychology and psychometric theory has introduced a new technology, item generation. In algorithmic item generation, items are systematically created based on specific combinations of features that underlie the processing required to correctly solve a problem. Reading comprehension items have been more…

This paper analyses some changing aspects of learning and "cultures of learning" in China: these are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK. We use the term "cultures of learning" to draw attention to the socio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations and interpretations…

We proposed to integrate cognitive and social factors in the study of unprotected commercial sex. Data from 159 female entertainment workers from 15 establishments in Shanghai who reported commercial sex in the month prior to interview were used to test the approach. Two-sample t tests and multivariate logistic regression were conducted to examine…

This paper reviews findings from over 70 published studies investigating various facets of learner-control in computer-based instruction (CBI). General conclusions about the relative effectiveness of learner-control versus program-control are equivocal. Across these studies, however, are strong suggestions that individual learner differences can…

This paper reports on the evaluation of an 11-week curriculum created to foster seventh grade students' understanding of scientific modeling. In the curriculum, students engaged in model-oriented activities such as creating non-Newtonian computer microworlds to embody their conceptual models, evaluating their models with criteria, and reflecting…

The influence of theory on instructional-design models of the future is explored on the basis of the theoretical developments of today. Anticipated model changes are expected to result from disparate theoretical thinking in areas such as chaos theory, constructivism, situated learning, cognitive-learning theory, and general systems theory.…

Prior research on the information-seeking process, conducted by Kuhlthau in the school library setting, led to the identification of a six-stage model of the search process, describing cognitive and affective symptoms commonly experienced by library users. The present study was designed to determine whether that model is generalizable to other…

In order to build robust natural language processing systems that can detect and recover from miscommunication, the investigation of how people communicate and how they recover from problems in communication described in this artificial intelligence report focused on reference problems which a listener may have in determining what or whom a…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

Four similarities between reading and writing and their corresponding instructional significance are examined in this literature review. Each of the four reviewed topics is prefaced by general instructional suggestions based on research cited in the review. Topics and suggestions are as follows: (1) linguistic--whenever possible, the processes of…

This comparison of students' learning from reading books and from watching television uses Gavriel Salomon's model of learning effects, which is based on the amount of mental effort invested (AIME) in a medium as determining how deeply the information from that medium is processed. Mental effort, in turn, is predicted to depend on two perceptions…

Traditionally, studies of beginning reading have focused either on between-subjects' differences or on changes in reading performance characteristics induced by specific training procedures. A third approach to reading is a within-subjects' comparison of individual performance characteristics at varying difficulty levels. The present study…

This module on the learning process is the tenth of 11 modules in the set, Introduction to Teaching Adults. Designed to meet the learning needs of part-time continuing education instructors, these modules can be used as resource materials for local workshops or study-discussion groups, as self-instruction (each module takes approximately two…

This study examined acquisition and development of children's social/symbolic and strategic communication abilities within a sociolinguistic model of communicative competence. The major theoretical perspective was derived from Mead's symbolic interactionism and the cognitive-developmental theories of Piaget and Werner. Role-taking was the central…