The Writing-across-the-Curriculum movement has been encouraging instructors in a wide range of disciplines to consider writing as a tool for learning. This chapter discusses why writing can be a powerful tool but also why the movement is having problems in implementation. (Author/MLW)

A law student's narrative about experiences in law school reveals how helpful the ability to understand and tell stories has been in her success in learning and practicing constitutional law. (MSE)

Describes study that examined how Australian distance education students use and learn from textual materials. Text processing strategies and rates of progress are examined; textual features including study guides, table of contents, cross-referencing, and visual aids are considered; and recommendations for improving learning from textual…

Presents current research about how children learn to read and addresses the implications of this body of research for instruction. Aids educators in reflecting upon their present instructional practices to ascertain whether they coincide with findings from existing research. (MG)

Describes a North Carolina elementary principal's efforts to turn around two schools by adopting the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Model. The first school succeeded by recruiting all teachers, using small-group techniques, redesigning classroom space, and developing hands-on math materials for each grade level. Both teacher and administrator…

The educational administration profession can no longer tolerate the certification of future school leaders who use a "cookbook" approach to problem solving. The issue of critical analysis and the ability to apply such skills to school settings is the essence of improving administrative leadership and student academic performance. Unless…

Explains that trial and error learning is an important way for children and adults to learn. Open-ended activities have great opportunities for error and eventual feedback for error reduction. (PR)

A self-regulated learning inventory was developed for the study and was administered to 160 college students. Factor analysis found that self-regulated learning and self-efficacy account for the majority of the variance. The importance of self-regulated learning in college academic achievement is supported by these results. (SLD)

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)

While children aged 1;10 and 2;1 show only a modest rate of mapping novel nouns onto unfamiliar rather than familiar objects, children aged 1;4 and 1;8 show a high rate. Two studies with young 2-year olds found the noun-mapping preference prevalent, but unless initial choices are strongly reinforced, increase in salience of familiar kinds lures…

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…

Investigates whether and how "cultural standards" influenced the use of cellular telephones by German and Chinese users. Uses focus groups, usability tests, and a questionnaire to determine how users obtained product information. Reports the varying learning and information-gathering strategies of Chinese and German users in terms of…

Presents research findings and suggestions on how children learn to categorize shapes. Discusses specific ways to present developmentally appropriate activities designed to enhance children's understanding of basic shapes. Contains 12 references. (ASK)

Answers teachers' most frequently asked questions about spelling, including issues related to why English spelling is the way it is; how students learn to spell; selection and organization of spelling words; determining spelling levels; invented spelling; effective instructional activities; spelling strategies; assessment; and adjusting…