Cognitive theory and research are relevant to vocational education. Three theoretical perspectives underlie cognitive theory-based curriculum and instruction: information processing, knowledge structure, and social history. A review of these perspectives in vocational curriculum and instruction suggests that instruction supporting higher-level…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

Presents a study to examine the effects of a verbal teaching strategy versus a strategy providing instruction using activities and manipulatives in four seventh grade earth science classes with students of varying cognitive abilities (n=83). Results indicate that students with more cognitive structures perform better and that using manipulatives…