This systematic literature review examined the research on prior knowledge and its activation to ascertain how these terms are defined, what specific techniques have been empirically investigated, and the conditions under which prior knowledge activation facilitated students' comprehension. Fifty-four articles met the inclusion criteria and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine career-change student teachers' practice-based learning in teacher training, with a special focus on the support they received. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of 15 group interviews, including 58 career-change student teachers and focuses on their…

In this research study, it is aimed to explore the causes of anxiety, specific situations that causes anxiety and the strategies which might be used by students of University College of Ratmalana, Colombo, Sri Lanka to overcome anxiety in speaking English as a second language. When analyzing this context, different educational scenarios may…

Many schools and school districts are implementing sheltered instruction to help serve the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) in mainstream content-area classes. Sheltered instruction is a research-based instructional framework that provides clear and accessible content and academic language to ELLs in pre-K-12 grade-level classes. Programs…

Every year, students encounter the same topics. While they may successfully learn the topics each year, there is not enough attention to the process of learning how to learn. Without knowing how to learn, students will find it difficult to transfer what they have learned to new but similar learning tasks. This fastback identifies the areas that…

Describes some recent studies which establish that meaningful learning can be promoted by a certain type of questioning activity, called elaborative interrogation, that leads students to activate prior knowledge and tie it to the new information. (SR)

Noting that transfer and motivation are mutually supportive in creating an optimal learning environment, this Digest discusses transfer (the application of prior knowledge to new learning situations) and motivation (the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts) in relation to language learning. It discusses the relationship…

Argues that some common student misconceptions are perpetuated by teachers, textbooks, and rote-learning methods and that strategies to challenge and change these misconceptions are needed. Focuses on misconceptions related to the eye and how it works. (DDR)

This paper addresses the question of how teachers can support and facilitate conceptual change in student thinking. It begins with a discussion of the multiple meanings of the term conceptual change. An argument is presented for the notion that recent developments in research in science learning have dramatic implications for what students are…

Responds to an earlier article that discussed school restructuring as it related to a book by this author. Topics addressed include hyperlearning; virtual reality; experience as separate from technology; and just-in-time learning. (LRW)

It appears that the value of providing students with strategies to activate their prior knowledge base or to build a base if one does not exist is supported by current research. Creating an opportunity to challenge students to call on their collective experiences (prior knowledge) is essential. Through this process, teachers move students from…

Describes 11 learning strategies, most of which are based on an information processing theory of learning, that can be used to develop study skills. Common elements include memory, comprehension, reading for understanding or meaning, and the incorporation of new knowledge into prior learning. (nine references) (LRW)

Describes vocabulary lesson sequences that were used to teach sixth, seventh, and eighth grade remedial readers economics vocabulary from the newspaper. (HOD)

Designed to explore what is being done to help learning disabled (LD) readers develop comprehension skills, this paper reviews research in teaching reading comprehension to LD students and develops generalizations from the research to guide reading comprehension instruction for such students. The 10 generalizations presented and discussed in the…

Focusing on how teachers can devise instructional routines to help students learn to learn, this paper discusses mechanisms for training students to devise their own strategies for learning. Because of the dominance of deliberate memory strategies in training research, the paper begins with a brief consideration of such literature, then proceeds…