Taking a test on a passage one has just studied is known to enhance later retention. This effect was influenced by the type of initial test used. It was evident in the case of the initial short-answer test, but not in the case of multiple choice and free recall tests. (Author/RD)

The idea of potential and usable processing space is explored, and consequent teaching strategies are discussed. Simultaneous studies of the effect of working memory space and field-dependence on science performance at secondary and tertiary levels are reviewed. How students filter out "signal" from "noise" during various…

Information-processing students solving problems in the 1960s and 1970s accepted the tradition of early experimental psychology in concentrating primarily on the study of "knowledge-lean" tasks in which competence can usually be acquired over short periods of learning and experience. In recent years, experts have examined knowledge-rich…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the magnitude of individual differences in time-to-criterion and the stability of these differences. Time-to-criterion was defined in two ways: the amount of elapsed time required to attain the criterion level and the amount of on-task time required to attain the criterion level. Ninety students were…

The effect of variations in the organization of information and in contextual features upon comprehension of prose was tested using four tasks. Organization was varied to contrast hierarchical information structures and list information structures, and to test the effect of linking the structural components of the passage into a conceptual…

This study investigated the effect on learning of the interspersing of questions with sections of written discourse. A 5,200-word passage was divided into seven sections, from each of which several completion questions were derived. A pair of questions was inserted before, after, or both before and after the section. These questions also formed an…

Short and long-term retention in a visual recognition memory task was studied as a function of race using 39 10th grade inner-city high school students as subjects and random polygons as stimuli. It was hypothesized that a black subject confronted by an unfamiliar white adult and requested to take a test might be more aroused than a comparable…

Reports on a study of four Australian 11th-grade biology students that used stimulated recall to evaluate student thinking processes.The study confirmed the complexity of the teaching-learning process. (MD)

This study examined the effect of instruction on the correspondence between a model of the structure of concepts in a social studies unit (content structure) and a representation of psychological structure of subjects differing in field independence and dependence. (Author/MV)

Describes a demonstration to illustrate the importance of knowing what is supposed to be learned before studying begins. Suggests that the exercise may be used to show the basic elements of a scientific experiment. Explains that attention's effect upon memory is shown by students' tendency to remember best what they are told to remember. (DK)

This paper reports an attempt to replicate previously published findings on the interrelationship between free-recall performance and selected cognitive abilities. In Experiment I, 300 7th and 12th graders responded to a battery of eight intelligence and memory tests and were then randomly assigned to one of three pre-learning instructional…

The material presented in this article is intended to help students learn how to learn. The seven key concepts of David Ausubel's assimilation theory for cognitive learning are discussed with reference to the classroom. Concept mapping is suggested as a tool for demonstrating how the seven key concepts function. (SA)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether students from different academic settings differ in their usage of metacognitive strategies in mathematical problem solving, and if they do, what the differences are. A questionnaire was administered to students at various levels from academic tracks and academic streams requiring them to…

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published a new learning style instrument in 1986--the NASSP Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP yields independent scores on 24 discrete elements of learning style. Its purpose is to provide educators with a well-validated and easy to use instrument for diagnosing cognitive styles,…

Discusses the value of memorized factual material in science. Describes the use of mnemonic devices to facilitate memorization. Provides a list of 14 mnemonic devices commonly used in science other than ROY G. BIV, which is used to remember the colors of the visible spectrum. (CW)