Reducing brain research from the neurosciences to prescriptive teaching strategies shortchanges the immense promise this research holds for education. Educators should remain cautious, since researchers often disagree about conclusions and theories; neurological research operates at a concrete, mechanistic, or reductionist level; most researchers…

Examines how, over time, the major definitions of the field of educational technology have reflected changes in the field itself. Major definitions from the early 1900s through 1994 are reviewed and compared; major changes in the field are identified; and thoughts regarding future definitions are presented. (Author/LRW)

Researchers agree that grading and reporting are not essential to instruction; there is no best grading system; grading is inherently subjective; and grades have some value as rewards, but none as punishments. Types of learning criteria and practical grading guidelines are outlined, along with a brief history of grading practices since the late…

Discusses learning as a complex and messy process, and uses the ideas of Paolo Freire to describe the college teacher as one who faces students "face to face" as a knower facing other knowers. The neighborhood of education is the minds of students; faculty members are the transients in this neighborhood. (SLD)

Describes the key features of the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) project, which assesses the "value added" of an institution. The project assesses the institutional contribution to student learning through a focus on general education skills and the assessment of student performance relative to other students and through a…

Integrates recent views of early perceptual-cognitive growth with accounts on the development of communication in infancy. Emphasizes supporting evidence for a view that combines innate perceptual and constructive mechanisms with associative memory in explaining how human infants process information. Also considers how the sociocultural…

Explains the importance of good questioning skills on student learning and describes appropriate questioning types for specific purposes. (YDS)

Investigates how individual and situational interest factors contribute to topic interest and text learning. Results reveal that both individual interest variables and specific text titles influenced topic interest. Examination of processes predictive of text learning indicated that topic interest was related to affective response, affect to…

Examines U.S. and Chinese conceptions of learning with leaning-related terms collected from U.S. and Chinese college students. Cluster analysis yielded a hierarchical structure of this lexicon for each culture. The English terms included elaborated conceptions of mental processes, internal learner characteristics, and social contexts. Most Chinese…

Explores the meaning of learning from the perspective of rapid technological change. Highlights include content; online communities; context; learning and change; knowledge and the meaning of learning; learning to use technology properly; and future shifts in the meaning of learning. (LRW)

Results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and other measures of achievement show that the achievement of Danish students is below the international TIMSS average when considered by age, but above the TIMSS average when considered by grade. Discusses results in the context of the later entrance to school in Denmark…

Discusses research on the relationship between time and learning. Includes suggestions for improving learning time. (PKP)

Use of meta-analysis to determine the important manipulable influences on school learning is illustrated. The methodology of meta-analysis discussed in relation to primary research methods include: (1) problem formulation; (2) sample selection; (3) data analysis; (4) data interpretation; and (5) data reporting. (SLD)

Five studies testing the theory of interpersonal intelligence of H. Gardner with 133 college students found that, when adults mastered 1 combination in a hierarchy of action-intention combinations, they also tended to master combinations involving more complex skills. Findings are consistent with Gardner's view of interpersonal intelligence. (SLD)

It is proposed that attributes of automatization depend on the strength of a processing pathway, and that strength increases with training. With the Stroop effect as an example, automatic processes are shown through simulation to be continuous and to emerge gradually with practice. (SLD)