To evaluate composition programs based on peer feedback, a study compared the improvement in written composition skills of two sets of eighth grade students in 11 classes at eight Dutch schools. The control group was enrolled in teacher feedback programs, the experimental group was enrolled in peer feedback programs. Students wrote a discursive…

Sentence combining is a powerful tool for structuring information and can be used effectively throughout the composing process. The teaching of composition can integrate into the composing process a number of concepts, including the use of heuristics, intellectual strategies, organizing principles, and sentence combining. A useful model for the…

As World Wide Web access expands into schools and homes, children will likely encounter the misinformation often found in this medium. This qualitative study describes strategies employed by sophisticated adult World Wide Web users as they evaluate authentic Web information with the purpose of adapting these strategies for children in K-12…

Examines social influences on the reading processes of four adolescent readers, as well as the relationship between social-cognition and these readers' responses to short stories. Suggests that competence, pragmatics, and volition are intricately related to the likelihood that readers will bring social-cognitive processes to bear on reading. (SR)

The experiences of novice users (freshman students at Ohio University) searching OCLC's FIRSTSEARCH set of databases were studied. The 13 subjects were asked to complete a search on the FIRSTSEARCH databases; and data were collected through observations, administration of a questionnaire, and a thinking-aloud protocol. Data were analyzed to…

This study investigated and compared the effects of two test formats (free response and multiple choice) on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners' reading comprehension. The tests, together with a checklist of test-taking strategies and retrospective questionnaires concerning more general reading strategies, were administered to 57 ESL…

This study investigated the role of problem structure and metacognitive control in the analogical transfer of performance of 40 13- and 14-year-old gifted and highly gifted math students. Average and above average 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds served as comparison groups. Students were given three algebra problems with solutions, followed by two…

Using J. Dewey's "reconstruction of experience" concept of revision, a study employed ethnographic methods to investigate the effects of computer assisted writing instruction on students' revising processes. Primary subjects, eight sixth-graders, completed a structured revision task on their compositions, with varying degrees of computer…

Proposes the use of procedural task analysis as a tool to assess a person's mental processes during problem solving in science education research. Uses transcriptions of videotape or audiotape problem-solving sessions to identify students' knowledge structures and misconceptions. (MDH)

The relationship between intellectual ability, working method, and learning was investigated with simulations in both structured and unstructured learning environments. High- and low-intelligence college students' thinking-aloud protocols were analyzed on quality of working method. Results indicated that both intellectual ability and working…

Democratic education is a learning approach that encourages and respects the voices of students. Unfortunately, much of the research on student empowerment and democratic education utilizes antiquated techniques that are researcher driven and disempowering to the objects of their study, the children. The current research incorporated a…

A study investigated the reading and writing strategies used by four students in a Japanese immersion program at an Australian university. Data were gathered through classroom observation, open-ended interviews, and think-aloud protocols. Analysis revealed that the students had a limited repertoire of strategies. Their reading and writing of kanji…

Many current efforts to develop large-scale science assessments involve hands-on tasks because of their presumed power to elicit and measure scientific reasoning skills. An analysis of the processes in which students engage while responding to such assessment is needed in order to discover the specific forms of reasoning that tasks elicit. This…

To generate a useful means of analyzing think-aloud protocols of individual students, and to determine the extent to which practical information might be derived from transcripts and videotapes, this project focused on the problem-solving behaviors of 17 sixth-grade students videotaped while solving routine textbook word problems. Using a…

The experience of novice users searching SilverPlatter's ERIC CD-ROM on the Macintosh was studied. Ten students from an introductory master's level course in library and information science were recruited as volunteer subjects. Subjects were asked to complete a search on the ERIC CD-ROM; and data were collected via observations, a think-aloud…