A cognitive processing model was adopted by the task force developing the National Association of Secondary School Principals' (NASSP) Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP contains 23 independent scales representing four higher order factors: cognitive skills; perceptual responses; study preferences; and instructional preferences. The subscales…

Outlines a new personality typology that provides a coherent system for construing and conducting research on learning styles. Discusses analytic, holistic, objective, and subjective styles as the affect versatility. Presents implications for educational goals, such as determining which students can benefit from stylistic versatility and which…

Presents study results examining conditions in which children can apply a previously learned memorization strategy to new but analogous tasks. Concludes that strategy mastery during training is not sufficient. Reports that only subjects who use information about relations between procedures and results to construct generalizable knowledge are able…

A group of 16 infants (ages 6 to 24 months) with Down's Syndrome (DS) were exposed to two operant learning tasks varying in control of reinforcement. Comparison with chronological and developmental age matched controls found DS subjects characterized by increasing adoption of counterproductive learning behaviors with increasing age. (Author/DB)

Presents results of a study of 11-year-old children's learning mode preferences, reading attainment, and cognitive ability. Reports that holistic thinkers preferred modes corresponding to their verbal imagery style, whereas analytic thinkers were divided across the verbal imagery dimension. Predicts highest achievement for wholist verbalizers and…

The study examined the use of expository text structure as a reading and writing strategy with 15 learning-disabled adolescents, 15 normally achieving adolescents, and 15 normally achieving fourth graders. Two reading tasks required students to recognize sequence or comparison-contrast text structure. The third task required students to write…

Educational institutions need to recognize and accommodate the individual needs of learners from culturally diverse backgrounds, of whom a large number are Blacks and Hispanics. To accommodate the educational needs of these learners, educators need to build on their entry-level strengths, which have been identified as: (1) orientation toward…

Examines the relationships between metamemory and strategic behavior in impulsive and reflective children. Children in three experimental groups received (1) prose summarization instructions; (2) summarization instructions in conjunction with meta-cognitive training about the importance of a reflective approach to learning; or (3) no instructions.…

Evidence from video tapes of experts thinking aloud and using analogies in scientific problem solving is presented. Four processes appear to be important in using an analogy: (1) generating the analogy; (2) establishing confidence in the validity of the analogy relation; (3) understanding the analogous case; and (4) applying findings to the…

This research examined the learning style factor of field dependence/independence and the problem solving strategies of Hmong male refugee students 17 years old and older who were attending or planning to attend post secondary education institutions in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The research was conducted from July 1986 to July 1987 to test two…

Presents meta-analysis of 54 articles and dissertations dealing with cognitive preferences. Information provided includes: test reliability; comparisons by country, grade level, gender, disciplines, and curricula; relationships between cognitive preferences and career orientation, science achievement, interest, and aptitude; and effect sizes.…

Approximately half of a group of 12-year-old students were taught fraction and ratio topics by a concrete process-oriented method. The others were taught in the regular way. The concrete, process-oriented approach resulted in significantly improved achievement in, and attitude toward, fractions and ratios. (Author/DC)

Reports on the comparative effectiveness of demonstration and lecture formats for presenting physiological measures. Although demonstrations may improve retention of information concerning simple procedures, the lecture format is more effective for complex information. (CFR)

Research has suggested that the two hemispheres of the brain serve specialized functions, with the most recent studies portraying the left hemisphere as processing information in a linear, serial, or sequential manner and the right hemisphere as processing information in a holistic, concrete, or visual mode. Although few systematic studies have…

A study comparing cooperative and competitive learning approaches in science was conducted with 630 eighth-grade Nigerian students using five different treatments. Combinations of cooperation and competition were found to be the best methods of instruction. Procedural demands on teachers using these methods were relatively easy. (DH)