The field trialling of inventory scales reflecting variation in students' mathematics study and learning processes is described. These scales predict learning outcomes (final marks), but with differentiated patterns of relationship to those outcomes. In combination, the scales also detect cohorts of students at risk of study failure. The work…

Two case studies of the specific vocabulary learning strategies used by native Chinese-speakers learning English as a Second Language (ESL) at Beijing Normal University are presented and discussed. Subjects were two university students identified as "good" and "poor" language learners. They read two passages, one with about…

Evidence from followup studies of teacher education graduates indicates that teachers do not value certain major components of their teacher education programs and do not really remember or know what their teacher education programs attempted to teach them. While educational experts cite the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of teacher education…

This study focuses on the semantic development of individual lexical items, as viewed from a semantic features perspective. It involves four narrow semantic domains, a sample of elementary school-children and their teachers, and two native language groups, English and Spanish. Semantic development is studied through the process of equivalence…

This report explores the possibility of constructing a conceptual framework to account for variations in learning styles observed among preschool disadvantaged children. It begins with a review of the literature on preschool intervention programs relating to ways disadvantaged children approach new experiences; gather, organize, and process…

The question examined in this paper is: what is known exactly about variables that affect long-term retention of knowledge learned in school? U. Neisser (1982) asserts that "it is difficult to find even a single study, ancient or modern, of what is retained from academic instruction." Further, popular belief holds that much of the knowledge…

A followup study was made of a previous investigation of the learning and teaching style of preservice elementary school teachers. In the original study, 20 female education majors were given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test to determine individual dominant personality types. The portable Rod and Frame Test, the Group Embedded Figures…

Although teachers may sequence instructions carefully, they are unable to respond to the complex unique experience of each individual learner. Divergent production should be an instructional choice that enables individuals to learn through their own recall and idea construction. Learning is problem solving; when individuals do not know how to deal…

In this report, the nature of anxiety is considered in historical perspective, and the concepts of trait and state anxiety are discussed. Methods for measuring these constructs are also described. In addition, hypotheses about the effects of anxiety on learning, formulated in terms of Spence-Taylor Drive Theory and Spielberger's Trait-State…

The major results and conclusions of a program of research concerned primarily with the relationship of cognitive abilities to learning are summarized. The major purpose of this research was to develop theorems of instruction related to the interaction of task variables and individual difference variables and to develop them in a manner relevant…

Tested the hypothesis that individual differences in immediate-verbal-memory span predict success in second-language vocabulary acquisition. In the two-session study, adult subjects learned 56 English-Finnish translations. Tested one week later, subjects were less likely to remember those words they had difficulty learning, even though they had…

This guide to learning disabilities is primarily based on the experiences of parents and staff at Landmark College (Vermont), a two-year college specifically for students with learning disabilities. Chapter 1 introduces a group of Landmark parents and students who share their feelings and concerns. Chapter 2 describes learning by seeing, hearing,…

This paper uses the Brunwik theory of probabilistic functionalism as the backdrop for discussion of interrelationships between the individual learner and the design of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). This Brunswik learning model depicts the acquisition of knowledge as governed by the proximity of various cues and distractions. It is also…

Students have diverse learning styles, and the challenge to educators is in designing a balanced curriculum across all styles, teaching essential content through a rich repertoire of instructional strategies. This short guide presents information essential to individualized teaching for diverse learning styles. The guide begins with an explanation…

A study used the think-aloud method to determine how adult learners beginning to learn a second language through oral input construct meanings, and what processing behaviors they engage in to help them construct future meanings more effectively. The subjects, 5 adult undergraduate and graduate students aged 23-55, were taught 20 Hindi lessons…