Andragogy is discussed as a relevant participatory adult education technique. The applicability of andragogy as a preretirement education process is explained and the task-oriented training model of preretirement education is discussed. Aging adults are competent, capable learners, and the andragogical process is one very effective way of assuring…

Two experiments were carried out in order to test the effects of task sequence on the speed of rule learning and problem solving. Experiment I involved numerical rule-learning tasks and Experiment II tested the effect of task difficulty and task precedence using problem-solving tasks. (Editor/RK)

Data are presented that reflect a particular strategy used by a boy from age 1;10 to 2;2 to manage certain polysyllabic words. Analysis shows that substitution was not involved, and an interpretation is made in terms of "underlying forms." Details of the strategy and its component sub-strategies are presented. (CHK)

Shows how several principles from Piaget's theory have a number of implications for the classroom learning environment, curriculum development and teacher role. (BF/JH)

Groups of formally educated and of uneducated rural Kpelle tribesman and children were given conceptual learning problems. The finding that education proved to have no significant effect on rule learning for either a conjunctive or a disjunctive rule is interpreted as indicating that formal education exerts its influence primarily on the way in…

Investigates the possibility that memory for the conditioned response (CR) may be subject to the same sorts of interference that have been found to operate in verbal and perceptual-motor memory situations. Considers the implications for developing a general theory of memory. (Editor/RK)

Considers whether students will remember only the meaning of a lecture or the meaning plus the actual words used and if there is a difference in the amount of memory for various types of statements. In particular, are topic statements remembered better than mere illustrative material and is there preferential memory for extraneous statements…

Brain-based learning may be the most important influence on teaching practice since the first school was founded. This article addresses key brain-research findings, the thinking-skills movement, popular literature on the brain, applications in education (on learning and memory, learning environment, the mind/body connection, music and the arts),…

Examines the models through which different academic disciplines approach inquiry. Faculty working in different models view their work differently, apply different evaluative standards, and accept different types of values. Although the discipline is more conspicuous than the model, the latter is equally important in understanding epistemological…

Discusses misconceptions that half-informed educators might have about the author's theory of multiple intelligences. The seven intelligences are based on explicit criteria and respond to specific real-world content. Educators can assess proficiency, but not intelligence at different tasks. Theories can have infinite numbers of possible…

Presents an interview with the director of the Supplemental Instruction (SI) Program at the University of Missouri, describing key elements of the technique in which study sessions are offered along with courses. Suggests that SI is widely used because it successfully reduces student attrition and is cost-effective. Reviews the development of…

Proposes a Web-based collaborative inquiry learning system and describes a study of undergraduates at the National Taiwan Normal University based on a model system that investigated students' learning processes. Discusses the use of concept maps to anchor and represent knowledge during the inquiry process. (Author/LRW)

Compared tutoring episodes where tutoring did and did not cause learning in university physics students to inform design of intelligent tutoring systems. Found that when students were not at an impasse, learning was uncommon regardless of the tutorial explanations employed. When students were at an impasse, tutorial explanations were sometimes…

Asked eight adults to instruct third- and fourth-graders individually in a math problem. Found that the adults offered more variable instruction to children who produced gesture-speech mismatches than to children with no mismatches--more types of instructional strategies and more instructions that contained two different strategies, one in speech…

Discusses a companion course designed to accompany an introductory chemistry course for preservice teachers. Includes examples of curricular materials and student work. (DDR)