This study examined adult educators' perceptions of components related to critical thinking, including definitions of critical thinking, instructional methods used, and methods of measuring students' growth. A self-report survey method elicited responses from adult educators who currently teach or previously taught adult education courses in…

Human cognitive system and information processing theories were used as the theoretical base that frames an interpretation of adult literacy research from World War I (WWI) through 1993. These theoretical perspectives are as follows: (1) literacy learning is grounded in a distinct developmental sequence; and (2) literacy learning is dependent on…

A study determined the learning (achievement) of 151 participants in the 1992-93 Ohio pesticide applicator training (PAT) program. It assessed the intended level of cognition of instruction and the actual cognition level achieved by the participants. All participants were pre- and posttested using questions adapted from Hall and Prochaska (1991),…

A study sought to identify and examine key factors that influence adult basic education (ABE) mathematics instruction in Massachusetts and to develop a detailed picture of the adult basic math learning environment. Phase I involved a survey by questionnaire directed at the entire Massachusetts population of instructors and program directors…

In March 1988, the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, New York, initiated a short-term, participatory research project in alternative assessment. It consisted of two major components--a five-session seminar held for two hours on Wednesday afternoons in May and June and two rounds of interviews with Adult Learning Center (ALC)…

This annotated bibliography contains 14 citations of books, papers, and videotapes that pertain to learner outcomes in adult education. The following are cited: "Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning" (S. Brookfield); "Self-Direction for Lifelong Learning" (P. Candy); "Helping Adults Learn Workshop" (A. Chickering); "Adults as Learners"…

A study explored attitudes of adult vocational instructors in Central Ohio toward the use of higher-order thinking skills in vocational education. The attitude instruments developed by Kitinoja and Miller (1989) and Baldwin (1989) were adapted into a six-point Likert-scale to collect data from 32 of 33 full- and part-time instructors in 10 adult…

This report considers the various facets of metacognition and their relation to adult literacy. The first section provides definitions of literacy and discusses the issue of single versus multiple factor hypotheses. The second section looks at the foundation of research on metacognition and literacy development in children. It examines whether…

These 23 papers provide as complete a picture as possible of the current efforts in self-directed learning application and research. The papers are: "Learning about Self-Directed Learning" (Long); "Philosophical, Psychological, and Practical Justifications for Studying Self-Direction in Learning" (Long); "In Search of…

These 16 papers provide as complete a picture as possible of the current efforts in self-directed learning (SDL) application and research. The papers are: "Challenging Some Myths about Self-Directed Learning Research" (Long); "Childhood Experiences as Origins of Self-Directed Learning Experiences" (Long, Stubblefield);…

Journals can be valuable tools for fostering adult learning and experience. Research has supported the following assumptions about learning from journals: (1) articulating connections between new and existing knowledge improves learning; (2) writing about learning is a way of demonstrating what has been learned; (3) journal writing accentuates…

This publication synthesizes recent research about standards-based education. It is intended to inform efforts to improve low-performing schools and create or sustain standards- based, high-performing learning communities. The five chapters are: (1) "Literacy for All Children" (aspects of literacy, reading, writing, and exemplary literacy teachers…

These 17 papers attest to the deepening and broadening interest in self-directed learning as one solution to the lifelong learning needs of men and women in an increasingly dynamic society. The papers include the following: "Self-Directed Learning Knowledge: Some Issues" (Long); "Development of Self-Directed Learning Readiness: A…

This book provides educators and education policy makers a picture of where the field of teaching adult English language learners is today in order to build a more effective delivery system for the future. It places adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) in the broader context of the U.S. education system (K-12 and adult education), then…

Both the literature on adult learning and the literature on the composing process focus on students and their behaviors rather than on teachers and their methods or on curricular content and structure. The most productive teaching of nontraditional students and the most useful educational research about them begins with the students themselves,…