Students struggle with the transition from learning to read narrative text in the early grades to reading expository text in the science classroom in the upper grades as they begin reading and writing to gain information. Science teachers can adapt their teaching materials to develop students' reading comprehension and recall by writing summaries…

This study explored Metacognition and how automated instructional support in the form of problem-solving and self-reflection prompts influenced students' capacity to solve complex problems in a Web-based learning environment. Specifically, we examined the independent and interactive effects of problem-solving prompts and reflection prompts on…

Most children know they should not pollute but have never considered why. One elementary school teacher creates a lesson for third- through fifth-grade students that makes the connection concrete. In the lesson, students consider the possible effects a trash item would have on an animal and its habitat, identifying ways in which the piece of trash…

The Monash University (Australia) Transition to Tertiary Writing Project seeks to produce a World Wide Web-based resource for first-year students to facilitate their transition to the kinds of thinking and writing valued at the university. The background research on which this language and academic skills (LAS) project is based centers on three…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to recognize that individual learning styles must be taken into account in the instructional design template used in online education. The paper argues that when students' learning styles are identified, it is possible to define an appropriate context of learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper…

A perennial difficulty for first year students--one often viewed by them as an unimportant annoyance--is the need to handle sources and cite correctly. Any serious institutional attempt to address this issue in an interesting way is an enterprise concerned with motivation, as well as curriculum innovation. This paper reports on a collaboration…

The purpose of this study was to examine how a Web-based software program impacted lower elementary students' composition of personal narratives when using a supported paragraph activity. The subjects in this experiment were first and second grade students in a multi-age classroom in a low socio-economic urban community. The participants were…

This article reports classroom research on learners' perspectives on Web-based instruction that utilizes the "Blackboard" course management system. The Web-based instruction aims to provide and support collaborative learning while fostering learners' autonomy and accountability. The article also provides a description of the course…