Finds that under certain conditions topic interest and prior knowledge can influence developmental-college-student-generated questions and that differential patterns of question construction emerge in multiple-choice and essay conditions. (SR)

Assesses prior knowledge and involvement in high school readers whose backgrounds would seem to match the possible interpretations of an ambiguous text. Finds that (1) prior knowledge resulting from actual group membership exerted only a modest effect on interpretation; (2) readers' level of involvement predicted text interpretation reliably; and…

Examines how readers overcome their misconceptions about the principles of motion. Finds that students overcome misconceptions when their prior knowledge is activated, regardless of whether they read text that supports or refutes those misconceptions. Finds that students using several processing strategies have an advantage over students using…

Describes a teacher research project. Suggests the author's reading methods course was effective in adding some strategies to the preservice teachers' understandings of reading. Notes students seemed more willing to add reading strategies in areas where they lacked prior knowledge and experiences, but demonstrated reluctance to change in areas…

Investigates the effects of case-based instruction, compared to traditional instruction, on students' ability to activate, assemble, and incorporate different knowledge sources in memory. Finds that activating and expanding knowledge through the use of thematically organized and cross-disciplinary self-selected cases facilitated students' ability…

Describes a study of the effect of incongruent prior knowledge on fifth- and sixth-graders' text comprehension, indicating that text structures that explicitly contrasted the reader's misconception with the correct information were more effective than those that simply gave correct information. (HTH)

Investigates whether thematic organizers can facilitate generalizability of ideas from one context to another for low ability readers enrolled in a college developmental studies program. Finds that the thematic strategy facilitated transfer of learning. (RS)

Describes a study of content area textbook use, in which three teachers' explanations of their use of textbooks differed from those derived from observations, and that this ambiguity may serve to confuse students. (HTH)

Explores opposing theoretical views on the effects of text underlining and reports on a study of 67 college freshmen. Finds that the subjects who generated their own underlining did not perform significantly better than those who were given experimenter-generated marking. (SKC)