Considers three broad, interconnected types of literacy: alphabetic (text-based), representational, and tool. Teachers can help support literacy for learning regardless of the medium--print, visual, video, audio, or electronic. School leaders can define and develop a literacy-for-learning mission by taking five strategic steps. Contains 13…

Reviews research on distance education methodologies and discusses the need for additional research to improve the quality of distance education. Highlights include categories of learning behavior and understanding the learning process; promoting deep learning; finding out how students really learn; and information and communication technology.…

Introduces a new curriculum framework that was developed and mandated for implementation in Western Australia. Documents the process by which a mandated set of core shared values were incorporated into a statement describing the science curriculum. Provides a re-analysis of some school science issues. (Contains 24 references.) (Author/YDS)

Models of how professionals learn include mental schema, skill acquisition, and reflective practice. Effective continuing professional education for the development of expertise should be dynamic, authentic, practice based, collaborative, and future oriented. (SK)

Discusses students' progress through distinct levels in the development of their thinking as described by van Hiele levels. Focuses on the quadrilaterals and suggests some level 3 tasks and construction problems. (ASK)

Examines the knowledge that secondary school students have concerning some basic aspects related to the location of inheritance information before they are taught about genetics. Discusses the effects of traditional instruction in Spain on students' learning. (Author/CCM)

Discusses students' (n=10,058) problems with naming oxo salts following a given formula. Many students incorrectly named oxo salts as oxides, and the students' own names for the compounds were more helpful to find the correct formula than the common names. Concludes that high school students are more interested in intellectually challenging…

Provides an overview of activities at the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia that are based on theoretically grounded research, technology-enhanced learning, and partnerships and research collaborations. Describes initiatives in the areas of cognition and learning, technology and teacher education, and…

Describes a study conducted among 10-year old students at a Finnish elementary school that examined the relations and possible interaction of students' motivational orientation and the quality of their inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning. Topics include social interaction during CSLIE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning…

Identifies the Nuffield Design and Technology Project which enlarges upon the national curriculum. Presents an investigation based on case studies of two teachers in separate schools, each using Nuffield publications with their classes. Explores how Nuffield materials were selected and adapted by the teachers. Suggests training to enhance…

Identifies 12 roles for medical teachers and groups them into six categories: (1) information provider in the lecture; (2) role-model on the job; (3) facilitator as mentor and for learning; (4) student assessor and curriculum evaluator; (5) curriculum and course planner; and (6) resource material creator. (Contains 84 references.) (Author/YDS)

Examines the relationship among students' approaches to learning, their perceptions of the educational environment, and their academic achievement. Uses the Approaches to Studying Questionnaire (s-ASQ) and the Medical Education Environment Measure (MEEM). Reports on the usefulness of using these two instruments as diagnostic measurement tools to…

The role common region (CR) plays in acquiring scientific information from node-link displays was studied by testing 88 subjects under conditions of knowledge maps demonstrating or not demonstrating CR. Field-dependent subjects scored better than the field-independent subjects for maps demonstrating CR, whereas the opposite was true for maps not…

Describes the slot-filler model of taxonomic knowledge development in which preschoolers derive "slot-filler" categories from event schemas. Maintains that the model has received considerable support across methodologies, ages, and sociocultural contexts. Argues that Krackow and Gordon's theorizing and methods could not lead to reliable,…

Interviews with five neuroscientists--Martin Diamond, Pat Wolfe, Robert Sylwester, Geoffrey Caine, and Eric Jensen--disclose brain-research findings of practical interest to educators. Topics include brain physiology, environmental enrichment, memorization, windows of learning opportunity, brain learning capacity, attention span, student interest,…