An ambiguity in Gagne and Briggs' model of instructional design was investigated using treatments which contrasted verbal expository and guided discovery forms of presentation. Analysis found the guided discovery method as effective as the expository method on all measures. Implications are discussed. (Author/MT)

Three approaches to vocabulary instruction were developed based on research from the training of verbal elaboration strategies with 107 educable mentally retarded children ages 8-11. (Author/MH)

Twenty-nine third graders were trained in teacher led direct instruction to use a generalizable strategy to solve four structurally different types of verbal math problems. There was a significant difference between posttest scores of the two training conditions (sequential and random order) due primarily to gains of the students in sequential…

Confirms the hypothesis that meaningful verbal instruction will be most efficient when it proceeds from the general to the specific, from the superordinate to the subordinate. (RB)

The essays included in this periodical focus on teaching elementary school children how to appreciate and how to write poetry. "Children, Poetry, and Memorization," by J.F.S. Smeall, outlines the historical basis, and perceptual limitations, of the use of print media alone in classroom instruction. Suggestions for encouraging children's recitation…

This study of 52 learning-disabled children, aged 8-13, found that direct feedback and practice improved metaphor interpretation. The approach was highly successful in teaching students to generalize concrete concepts to abstract ones. Further descriptive analyses indicated that grade and reading levels of subjects correlated with metaphor…

Discusses the value of rhymes in developing children's concepts of story and pleasure in reading. (HOD)

To determine the efficacy of auditory, visual and combined auditory-visual modes of presenting verbal material, 12 first-grade, 12 third-grade and 12 fifth-grade children were tested on paired associates lists presented under visual, auditory and combined auditory-visual conditions. Pictures rather than printed words were used as visual stimuli to…

The purpose of the study, part of the research and curriculum development of the Anthropology Curriculum Project, was to compare the facilitative effects of pre- and post-organizers on the learning of structured anthropology materials at the sixth-grade level. Organizers were defined, in this thesis, as written material that serves the function of…

This dissertation report, stemming from research and curriculum development activities of the Anthropology Curriculum Project, investigates the facilitative effects of pre-organizers, post-organizers, and no-organizers on the learning of anthropological concepts in the third grade. The investigation was an outgrowth of interest in Ausubel's theory…

Investigated was the relative effectiveness of sign language and verbal language training in teaching 12 nonverbal hearing retarded children (4-9 years old) to communicate. Ss were randomly assigned to one of three groups: speech training (based on the Bricker, Dennison, Watson, and Vincent-Smith program), sign language training (adapted from the…

Thirteen females with Turner syndrome, 13 females with nonverbal learning disabilities, and 14 males with nonverbal learning disabilities, ages 7-14, were taught via a cognitive behavioral modification approach to verbally mediate a spatial matching task. All three groups showed significant task improvement after the training, with no significant…

In line with the psychologists' viewpoint on child development, an argument is made for reconsidering the timing and type of modern language instruction in the school. Evidence of the receptiveness of children to language learning from birth to age eleven is discussed, along with the efficacy of learning through a direct, or school, experience.…

Outlines a variety of activities using each of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to teach map reading skills. The Multiple Intelligences are logical/mathematical, linguistic, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Includes multiple activities for teaching six key ideas and four skills. (MJP)

Based on a longitudinal study of language development, this book charts the language development of 32 British children from shortly after their first birthdays to the end of their elementary education, and explores a number of questions related to this development. Chapter 1 describes the children and their families, chapter 2 discusses the…