This study was performed as an effort to replicate and extend the findings of Hendrix with regard to verbalization and discovery learning. College algebra classes were randomly assigned to three verbalization conditions: (1) no student verbalization of generalizations required, (2) students make written verbalization of generalization, and (3)…

Exploring relationships between communication and learning within a conceptual framework for a problem-oriented discovery program, this dissertation presents a learning program which (1) enhances possibilities for learning during the time formally called learning or education; (2) provides carryover for lifelong learning habits; and (3) views…

Reported is a study of the effects of using the counterintuitive event in science teaching on subject-matter achievement and subject-matter retention of upper-elementary school students. Two separate units of instruction based on the demonstration-discussion method were designed for the study. A unit of instruction was designed for the control…

This dissertation reports the results of a one-year pilot study conducted to determine the feasibility of a small group-discovery method with a class of college freshmen studying calculus. The class consisted of twelve volunteer students who had A or B grades in their high school mathematics courses. The pilot class scored slightly better on a…

This study was designed to compare the effects of three methods of mathematics instruction on variables related to transfer of learning. The three methods compared were expository, rule-and-example, and discovery; the dependent variables involved representational, contextual, and difficulty components of the domain of transfer, Students (N = 180)…

Reported is a study to evaluate the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) program at the fourth-grade level, in particular the unit, "Relativity." To avoid the problems of a written test, an alternative test involving examples of relative position and motion was developed. This 30-item planetarium test was used as a pretest and…

The purpose of this study was to test the learning by discovery controversy. Three seventh-grade science classes of above average readers were selected and randomly assigned to one of three experimental treatments: discovery, guided discovery, or programed instruction. The instructional materials were derived from the Michigan Science Curriculum…

This study was designed to determine the relationships of student anxiety and dependency to the effects of teaching structure on the acquisition of science knowledge and processes within inductive/discovery learning. Teaching structure refers to the relative amounts of teacher and/or student control within the tasks. Randomly assigned fifth- and…

The purpose of this study was to compare seventh-grade life science classes taught using two different types of instructional milieu. Twenty-three seventh-grade classes and their teachers participated in the study. Classes matched according to IQ, reading level, and science achievement were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. Treatment A…

This study was designed to determine if students taking junior high school science would receive greater understanding and retention of science principles and procedures from the Earth Science Curriculum Project (ESCP) than would students taught grneral science via the lecture-demonstration method. No attempt was made to group the students (28 in…

The purposes of the first two parts of this literature review are to clarify the concept of active learning and discuss the use and value of active learning models. In Part I, the perspectives of five historical proponents of active learning, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Dewey, Kilpatrick, and Piaget, are discussed. The views of four contemporary…

In this dissertation the author has surveyed reports of experimental studies comparing discovery-oriented instruction with expository instruction. The studies analyzed focused on retention or transfer and were concerned with five subject matter areas: mathematics, science, language, geography, and vocational education. The author reports that no…

A process that could facilitate a cross-cultural learning environment was designed. The process involved (1) developing motivational devices using an historical selection process that incorporated a "significant difference", evaluated reconstructed historical materials, devices that prevent a "past-present" dichotomy,…

This paper describes an approach to using science activities as a means to teach English in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. It is based on the author's work in Preparing Refugees for Elementary Programs (PREP) at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center. Refugee children from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, ages 6 to 12, attend…