Course evaluations analyzed to discover factors affecting learning indicate that expectations, learning style, and personality are major factors. It is suggested that learning is strongly influenced by these student characteristics and parallel factors in courses and teachers. (MSE)

Research on the application of descriptions of student learning to normal methods of studying is discussed, and a study is reported that examines student learning in actual working situations. It is concluded that learning styles and strategies apply to students in particular situations rather than to individual students per se. (Author/JMD)

Recent research on representations of knowledge and styles of learning carried out by Pask and his colleagues is summarized and discussed in relation to earlier work. The claims made for the wide applicability of conversation theory to learning and teaching in schools and higher education are considered. (Author)

Cognitive Flexibility (availability in the individual's repertoire of various strategies and ability to select those most effective to the required task) is suggested as an important individual-difference variable. Some methodological problems in the assessment of cognitive flexibility as related to human memory are discussed. (Editor/SJL)

Examined dissonant forms of teaching and their relation to student learning. Found that in units of study, students report a higher quality learning experience (deep approaches), and the relationships between approaches to teaching and perceptions of the teaching context are consonant and coherent for the more senior teachers. In units of study in…

The article briefly describes resources for educators interested in experimenting with learning-styles-based instruction. Included are eight publications for adults, three videotapes, three measures of learning style, four publications for students, two guides for doing homework, four teacher inservice packages, five instructional resources, a…

Schools should probably spend more time developing student awareness of learning styles than pushing teachers into more inservice workshops on adapting curriculum. The Learning Channel Preference Checklist included in this article allows students to assess their own preferred learning style(s) by choosing statements stressing visual, auditory, or…

A teacher reports on helpful advice she received from a colleague when she started teaching: to teach students in the cognitive mode in which they learn best (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, or tactile). (TE)

Reports a study that examined how preschoolers interacted while learning fundamental motor skills. Researchers observed children over a six-month period during their daily motor skills program and found gender differences in the way children interacted in that context. Girls and boys learned from different types of interaction among themselves.…

Examines three ways that constructivism is aligned with multicultural education in formal educational environments: (1) learners organize ideas in unique ways; (2) learners' self-awareness and self-concept influence learning; and (3) a learner's personal history filters new information. (GR)

Robert J. Sternberg's research on cognitive style and model of "mental self-government" at all educational levels have led to a pilot elementary/secondary curriculum to help students develop common sense and practical judgment as well as intellect. The interinstitutional effort between Yale and Harvard universities includes Howard…

Research on students' experiences in higher education has evolved from focusing on deep and surface approaches to learning to study of educational choices and individual preferences or behavior patterns in tackling a learning task. Recently, interest has turned to what factors in the learning environment influence the approaches students adopt.…

Describes a study that assessed cognitive style of 11-year-old pupils from a British primary school through use of the Cognitive Styles Analysis using CD-ROM multimedia packages. Style and aspects of learning performance are considered; gender differences and style are discussed; and further research is suggested. (LRW)

Metaphors are guiding images that influence one's approach to problem solving. Experiential learning is a process of metaphor change; the task of educators is to facilitate development of new metaphors that generate new potential when old metaphors don't work. Discusses stages of metaphor development, creating an open learning space, and…

Discusses the consequences of tracking students, how one English teacher moved to heterogeneous grouping, and multiple intelligences and tracking. Asks why educators continue to track students when Howard Gardner has shown that there are at least seven distinct ways that humans come to know and learn. (RS)