Examined and measured effects of individual differences among the elderly in a cognitive training program emphasizing general learning skills. Memory improvement was greater for learning skill training and social support compared with a waiting list group. Individual variability obscured statistical differences in treatment effect. Examined…

Presents a conceptual model that relates the range of types of experiential groups to their potential learning outcome. Attempts to relate group process and likely skill acquisition through participation in the group process. Tested model by considering applicability to a range of group learning processes. (RC)

Reports classroom observations and dialogues with children that show children's understandings and use of punctuation; reports data showing that children in a class in which punctuation was taught in the context of writing learned more about punctuation than children in a class in which it was taught in isolation. (ET)

Affirms that Piaget's theory is superior to behaviorism in fostering learning. (FL)

Participants aged 17-26, 39-51 and 59-76 solved concept problems to investigate intellectual correlates of concept identification as a function of stage of learning in adulthood. Differential ability-performance relations as a function of stage of learning were considerably less potent in the elderly v the young and middle aged. (Author)

Examined memory functions in individuals with and without autism. Found that the group with autism performed significantly worse than the nonautistic group on temporal order memory, source memory, supraspan free recall, working memory and executive function but not on short- and long-term recognition, cued recall, or new learning ability. (MOK)

Effects of author-generated and learner-generated elaborations on subjects' abilities to recall, classify, and apply conceptual knowledge were compared for 94 college undergraduates studying a passage on psychological concepts. Author-generated elaborations and specific elaboration activities produced superior effects in comparison with…

Discussion of the impact of simulation games on learning focuses on a study of a college history course that compared game results with historical facts. A content analysis of the comparisons is presented, models of learning acquisition are discussed, and the learning stages that occur in a simulation game are described. (three references) (LRW)

Presents a categorization of distance education methodologies in the form of a taxonomy that compares correspondence study-based distance education approaches with telecommunications-based approaches. Interaction between teachers and students and between students themselves in the distance learning process is highlighted, and a new definition of…

This empirical study examines the effects of visible link-types on learning in a hypertext environment. Learning outcomes and learning processes of two groups, one using visible link-types and one not using them, are compared; results of an attitude questionnaire are discussed; further research is suggested; and the questionnaire is appended. (LRW)

Describes a study of medical school students in The Netherlands that tested the assumption of problem-based learning that learning issues, generated by students while discussing a problem, are used as guides for self-directed learning activities. Faculty objectives and student-generated learning issues are compared. (LRW)

Effects of 2 types of oral language training programs on development of phonological awareness skills and word learning ability were examined for 48 kindergartners. Children receiving analytic and synthetic training improved significantly on both types of skills, but children receiving synthetic skills training alone improved only in blending…

Critics of student writing in British lecture courses as "mere rehash of lecture notes" are reminded that (1) by its nature, the lecture course focuses on and is limited to information conveyed in lectures, and (2) professors refuse to use materials such as U.S. textbooks that could supplement the information conveyed in class. (MSE)