The authors investigated whether some advantages of tutoring over other instructional methods are due to microadaptation, or, tutors basing their actions on assessments of tutees they develop during tutoring. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, independent variables were shared experience (tutors either worked with the same or a different…

Worked examples, commonly used in technical domains, are rarely used in language areas such as English literature. In 3 experiments, Korean university students for whom English was a foreign language received worked examples intended to facilitate problem solving in the ill-structured domain of English literature. During the learning phase, half…

The present studies aimed to reexamine college students' achievement goal orientations by situating their motivation in a cooperative learning context. The authors proposed and validated a scale of 3 levels of trichotomous achievement goal orientations. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses supported that, in laboratory cooperative learning…

The authors tested whether students can be taught to better understand conventional representations in diagrams, photographs, and other visual representations in science textbooks. The authors developed a teacher-delivered, workbook-and-discussion-based classroom instructional method called Conventions of Diagrams (COD). The authors trained 1…

Attempts to evaluate the effect of various combinations of traditional instructional methods (TM) and personalized instruction (PSI) on final exam scores. It is hypothesized that groups which received PSI combined with enrichment provided by TM will score significantly higher on their cumulative final exam than students who receive instruction by…

Tests Ausubel's (1960) subsumption theory of learning in the context of children's use of causal and logical connectives. Predicts that the acquisition of prior cognitive structure organizers would facilitate the learning and retention of subsequently presented concepts and logical operations and lead to a decrease of syncretic reasoning and…

The use of peers to provide instructional control was investigated in two studies. The first determined the reliability with which students identify multiplication fact errors. The second investigated the effectiveness of a peer-mediated drill procedure for instruction on multiplication facts. (Author/RK)

Research has shown that mental imagery stimulates various types of learning. This research investigates a procedure designed to evoke and enhance mental imagery in a classroom learning situation. The content area selected for study was spelling because so little progress in instructional approaches has been reported in the literature. Compares the…

Investigates the effects of an advance organizer lesson, presenting high-order science concepts and an elementary problem solving strategy for determining causal relations on children's use of operations of exclusion (as defined by Inhelder and Piaget, 1958). Results suggest that acceptable solutions to problems requiring the operations of…

Examines possible relationships between the analytic/global dimension of cognitive style, as defined by Davis and Klausmeier (1970) and measured by the Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), and two modes of instruction varying in the level of written guidance (Intermediate and Maximal) provided the learner. (Author/RK)

A lab study was conducted to test the effect of different kinds of instruction in copying tasks, which are considered to be a fundamental function in the area of psycho-motor skills. The study was organized as a two-way design with 24 eight-year-old Ss. (Editor)

The use of bilingual graphic organizers (bilingual knowledge maps [BiK maps]) as a presentation format was investigated for the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary. Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions for the task of studying 32 German-English word pairs. Participants in each condition were trained on either lists or BiK maps…

This experiment was designed to investigate effect of verbal instruction alone vs. verbal instruction complemented by simple line drawings; effect of visual testing vs. nonvisual testing; effect of verbal cued vs. free recall on student achievement; effect of order of testing on subsequent achievement; and interaction among type of instruction,…

Programed instruction in sex knowledge was presented via computer to 30 college students under varying conditions of informational feedback delay (IF). Immediate feedback following each response was compared with feedback following a 15-second delay for each response. Delay conditions provided significantly more retention than immediate…

Two experiments involving 226 college students were conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of increasing students' incentive motivation for studying and prescribing a text-processing strategy for them to use in studying. Findings suggest that the use of students' acquired learning strategies depends on their motivational levels. (SLD)