Three articles explore current research and theory regarding children's learning styles, covering: (1) four basic ways children approach learning and corresponding teaching methods; (2) "multiple intelligences" and new thought about the boundaries of innate ability; and (3) classroom teachers' perspectives and instincts about the mystery of…

Preschool children were given a memory task that required repeating a list of animal names and a sentence imitation task. Results confirmed a relationship between word span and language imitation in younger preschool children and the notion of a memory constraint on early spontaneous language. Increasing mastery of linguistic rules appeared to…

Examined relationships among working memory, memory span, and reading skills in children and adults. Found that working memory and short-term memory skills develop through adolescence, but working memory skills show declines in adulthood. Age-related declines in memory appear to be related to the task's processing demands, which may affect the…

Reviews "An Odyssey in Learning and Perception" (E. J. Gibson), a volume of collected works that present a first-hand account of many advances in psychology over the past 60 years. A discussion of the two basic questions that capture the essence of Gibson's research, "What is learned" and "What is information" is…

Presents ongoing research for constructing formal models of learning in rich problem-solving domains. The underlying framework for the research is aimed at integrating models of active, goal-oriented learning processes with theories of problem-solving and cognitive skill development. Indicates that the particular self-explanation and…

Fifty two- to three-year olds performed paired-associate or control tasks with response items that were related or unrelated. Children in the related task performed more slowly than children in the unrelated task. Findings suggest that children in the related task experienced interference in the acquisition or retrieval of paired-associate items.…

Suggests that contexts may be useful in mathematics instruction in relation to learning transfer and that the factors that determine whether a context is useful are complex. Discusses the context effect, learning in context, how well students identify with tasks taken out of an adult world, and the effects of ethnomathematics. (MDH)

Presents findings from an analysis of classroom discussions aimed at constructing shared knowledge. Demonstrates how students build up new concepts by renegotiating and sharing meanings and ideas during argumentative exchanges. Suggests that collaborative discourse-reasoning can support students' gradual mastery of discursive practices…

Explores the idea that play is one of the fundamental processes by which children develop their understanding of the world by looking at play as an intrinsically motivated activity. (WRM)

Discusses problems that educators face in attempting to emphasize high-level cognitive skills in their curriculum. Identifies four elements of informal learning that guide the creation of these skills, through a comparison of the characteristics of formal and informal learning environments. Notes benefits for development of students' conceptual…

Describes a qualitative study of a community college American history survey course using constructivist teaching, wherein all learning is filtered through the learner's lens of reality. Reports that one implication of the study was that applied constructivism may result in a more holistic approach to teaching and learning. (AUTH/NB)

This research examines adolescents' learning about a historical issue from multiple information sources. Adolescents read 2 contradictory texts explaining the Fall of Rome and thought out loud after each sentence. After reading, a series of questions probed their understanding and ability to reason with the information. Think-aloud protocols were…

Children diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger Syndrome (AS) may be characterised by a similar perceptual focus on details as children with autistic disorder (AD). This was tested by analysing their performance in a visuoperceptual task [the Children's Embedded Figure Test (CEFT)] and a…

This chapter presents a brain-based model of adult learning and connects the model to practice.

Recently, the importance of an everyday context in physics learning, teaching, and problem-solving has been emphasized. However, do students or physics educators really want to learn or teach physics problem-solving in an everyday context? Are there not any obstructive factors to be considered in solving the everyday context physics problems? To…