The study investigated the effect writing prompts designed to elicit reflective and reflexive thinking could have on participants' self-regulated learning strategies and academic performance. The reflection prompts asked the students to think about the way they were working for the class they were enrolled in and to identify important elements…

This study examined the effects of metacognitive strategies to help beginning young learners with difficulties increasing and retaining vocabulary. This was a qualitative study in which participants first went through metacognitive strategy instruction to provide awareness of learning strategies. Following this instruction, students underwent a…

Journals and diaries have been used in many different kinds of courses in a variety of disciplines so that students can reflect on their learning experience and make it more personal. This paper involves a modified version of diaries in which students briefly record the work they have done using English as a foreign language or coming into contact…

This study explored the use of self-assessments, journaling, and peer sharing in an online computer programming course. We conducted an experiment using a pretest-intervention-posttest design in which 64 undergraduate first-year students participated. We aimed to investigate whether self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing can facilitate…

Science notebooks are an individual portfolio of a child's development and comprehension over the course of each unit as well as the entire year. Using notebooks reflectively in inquiry learning enables students to review their own ideas about a topic while creating opportunities for teachers to make formative assessments. Teacher reviews of…

This article describes how first-grade students create meaningful communication with families and help build the student-teacher-parent relationship through journaling. Journals are a useful tool to bridge school and home. A journal can communicate learning goals, develop scientific vocabulary, and create dialogue through oral and written…

Recently, there have been efforts to rethink assessment. Instead of informing about (relatively stable) learner characteristics, assessment should assist instruction by looking at the learning process, facilitating feedback about what students' next step in learning could be. Similarly, new forms of strategy assessment aim at capturing…

Although writing learning journals is a powerful learning tool, instructional support is needed to overcome deficits in the use of self-regulated learning strategies. In a 2 x 2 experimental design with high-school students (N = 70), we analysed the effects of two modes of instruction (namely, informed prompting and learning-journal example) along…

The term "inquiry" can be viewed from two perspectives. Inquiry refers to the abilities students develop when designing and conducting investigations and the understanding they gain through this process about the nature of science. Inquiry also refers to teaching and learning strategies that enable students to master content concepts. Library…

Reflection is an important prerequisite to making meaning of new information, and to advance from surface to deep learning. Strategies such as journal writing and peer feedback have been found to promote reflection as well as deep thinking and learning. This study used an empirical design to investigate the interaction effects of peer feedback and…

Forty college students in a first-year biology course were randomly assigned to a learning journal (experimental) or scientific report (control) group. Results showed that the experimental group used more metacognitive strategies and more sophisticated cognitive strategies during a learning task. (SLD)

Describes a project involving student journal writing designed to examine middle graders' mathematical thinking and disposition. Teachers gained insight into students' conceptual and procedural knowledge and attitudes toward mathematics. Students' responses suggested that they found journals to be a way of sharing their thoughts about mathematics,…

Investigating the relationship between learning and academic journal writing, a study examined features of journal entries and students' characteristics. Subjects, students enrolled in an introductory linguistics course for English, English education, and elementary education, were asked to keep a journal during the course. To determine students'…

Discusses the value of keeping journals to promote science learning while simultaneously practicing communication skills. Suggests that writing also enhances science learning because it is a constructive, reflective process which helps students clarify scientific concepts and think creatively. Offers a list of potential journal topics. (AIM)

A study examined the use of dialectic (Learning) journals in a grade 3 social studies class during the 1993-94 school year. The topic was "Communities Need Each Other," and categories used for the journals were: (1) What I Learned; (2) What It Means; (3) What It Means To Me and My Family; and (4) What It Means To The World. The eight subjects…