The interaction of field independence and advance organizer in learning and retention was studied in students aged 14-15 years. Two lessons on word meaning and structure were taught under three treatments: lessons; lessons plus advance organizer; and lessons plus advance organizer plus specific reference to its organizing properties. (Author/SJL)

Presents viewpoints by an assistant secretary at the Department of Education (DOE) regarding the status of educational research in instruction, including individualized instruction, in the United States. Discusses the need for reform in education, the ineffectiveness of the government, and the purposes and concerns of the DOE. (CS)

In a three-year cumulative study, more than 1,000 children were observed either in randomly arranged preschool classrooms or in classrooms deliberately arranged to promote learning. Creativity, oral language use, and development of science and number concepts were significantly higher for children in the specially planned classrooms. (Author/SJL)

This article compares three theories of the creative process taken from aesthetic philosophy: aesthetic enjoyment (D. W. Gotshalk), aesthetic experience (John Dewey), and aesthetic knowledge (Susanne Langer). Each shows different versions of the learning that accrues from creative activity. From this, curriculum planning and teaching suggestions…

In order for teacher education students to assess children's performance related to environment, data that might influence learning was collected. Relationships emerged between contextual variables as well as between child variables. (RC)

Investigated the effect on achievement and retention of providing students enrolled in a grade 11 biology course with precisely stated learning outcomes prior to instruction. Results show that the experimental group performed significantly higher than did the control group on both tests. (HM)

Investigates the effectiveness of a structured learning game in overcoming learning difficulties encountered by Israeli students when studying the life cycles of fungi because of lack of structural conceptualization. The Fungi Life Cycle Game (FLCG) was used by undergraduate students enrolled in a phytopathology course. (HM)

Discusses a method used at DePaul University of Chicago, Illinois, in a relativity course for students who are not science majors, emphasizing logical reasoning rather than memory of facts. (HM)

Undergraduates were grouped into various study and review conditions to determine the effect of using a preferred or nonpreferred study technique and of being familiar or unfamiliar with an assigned reading topic. Students who preferred reading and were familiar with the topic achieved the best performance after reading. (Author/GDC)

Presents case studies of students with various learning styles and discusses research dealing with learning styles of students and teachers. The objective of the article is to help teachers perceive more accurately the strengths of students who might otherwise be labeled as deficient in learning ability. (Author/DB)

Numerical classification techniques were used to explore the conjecture that inconsistent results of many studies of disabled readers could result from samples being composed of subgroups of children with different characteristics. Some five subgroups were identified using ITPA scores from a subsample of 37 poor readers. (Author)

A Latin American Educator responds to three challenging social questions: How essential is the university in the development process? What are the strengths and weaknesses of technology transfer? How ready are developing societies to absorb higher technical literacy?

Presents some techniques for helping biology students to think about the future, such as the Delphi Technique, the cross-impact matrix and the future circles. (HM)

Describes an analytic framework developed to support principals' instructional leadership in the context of contemporary reform perspectives. The leadership model suggests "lenses" through which educational experience can be examined: (1) content standards; (2) performance standards and assessment; (3) teacher instructional practices;…

Describes an approach to lexical meaning in multilingual primary classrooms illustrated in the "Word-Weaving" project in a British school. Word weaving is a set of strategies to identify lexical demands of learning topics and to build opportunities for word meaning exploration into classroom discourse. (SLD)