We examined students' perceptions of the appropriateness and usefulness of the Internet for schoolwork and its impact on their views on the value of school learning. We were motivated by the debate in the literature as to whether today's students are different because of the Internet, and consequently whether schools should change. An analysis of…

We investigated how 2 different curricular scaffolds (context-specific vs. generic), teacher instructional practices, and the interaction between these 2 types of support influenced students' learning of science content and their ability to write scientific arguments to explain phenomena. The context-specific scaffolds provided students with hints…

Collecting and graphing performance data are important parts of the educational process. Such procedures help educators, caregivers, and other important stakeholders make data-based decisions to accelerate child progress. With school-age children, collecting and graphing data have been associated with more frequent instructional changes to better…

The Australian Federal Government and Australian universities have embarked on a bid to raise the profile of learning and teaching (L&T) in universities. Current strategies include increased funding of competitive grants for L&T projects, a wider range of teaching awards and fellowships and a controversial new national competitive Learning…

This article reports the findings of a project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which explored the participation of children in out-of-school recreational activities. The experiences of children living in poverty were compared and contrasted with their more affluent peers. The aim of the project was to explore these out-of-school…

This personal reflection describes how the scholarship of teaching and learning models democratic practice. Motivated by a forced curricular change, this piece outlines the reflection and growth of a college professor as he realized that democratic awareness is developed more fully through action than through readings and/or class discussions. In…

In Experiment 1, students received an illustrated booklet, PowerPoint presentation, or narrated animation that explained 6 steps in how a cold virus infects the human body. The material included 6 high-interest details mainly about the role of viruses in sex or death (high group) or 6 low-interest details consisting of facts and health tips about…

Circadian rhythms, in particular the sleep-wake cycle, modulate most, if not all, aspects of physiology and behavior. Their impact on education has recently begun to be understood, including a clear positive relationship between sleep and learning. In fact, sleep deprivation, common to adolescents throughout the world, has a deep effect on…

Evolutionary psychology raises questions about how cognitive adaptations might be related to the emergence of formal schooling. Is there a special role for natural domains of cognition such as folk physics, folk psychology and folk biology? These domains may vary from small fragments of reasoning to large integrated systems. This heterogeneity…

We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in four traditional and four transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research, students still struggle with many of the same issues found in other courses. However, the reasons for…

Following Bennett Solomon's suggestion of the "integrating individual"--one who possesses the skill and interest to incorporate new knowledge into a larger and unified life-picture--this article explores how recognizing the coupling of the affective and cognitive can influence Jewish education. Emotions help construct our daily perceptions and our…

A 60-item questionnaire on conceptions of learning was mailed to students taking preparatory courses by distance learning with The Open University in the United Kingdom. Complete data were provided by 372 respondents. Their scores on six factor-based scales showed satisfactory internal consistency, cluster analysis identified five groups of…

One of the most important implications for professional adult educators drawn from this review of the literature (emphasizing seven research studies which focus on the individual learner) stems from the increasing evidence that adults plan a great deal of learning for themselves without any assistance or intervention from professional adult…

This book examines recent theoretical and empirical contributions in the field of interest research. Chapters in part one address some general questions in the study of interest, while those in part two cover individual interest and learning in school. Chapters in part three examine situational interest, and the chapters in part four present…

Some characteristics affecting learning which vary with the individual are discussed. A rationale for individualized instruction is explained, as is its implementation through use of learning activity packages. (RM)