Metacognition refers to a set of processes an individual uses in monitoring ongoing cognition so as to effectively control his or her own behavior. In this article, I discuss key frameworks for characterizing metacognition and describe approaches to measuring metacognition. Modern research in metacognition assumes that monitoring of cognition…

Learning to learn (L2L) is an important component of lifelong learning. First, the article discusses various possible definitions of L2L and identifies the most comprehensible definition, which provides the basis for the analysis. Subsequently, it presents the results of a pilot study carried out in the early stage of primary education. This study…

Measures the effects of presentation mode and perceived difficulty on retention of academic content material. Finds the main effects of presentation mode and difficulty to be significant; however, pairwise comparisons of means for mode did not show significant differences. (NH)

This qualitative research studied patterns of student self-talk (thought) in a sixth-grade mathematics classroom. The research sought greater understanding of the mental labels and operative cognitive structures upon which students rely in order to participate in schoolwork. Twenty-four students were given "math journals" and asked to…

The study attempted to measure the impact of diverse instructional methods on individuals whose learning styles tended to fall along a concrete-symbolic continuum as measured by a learning activities questionnaire. Two assumptions were made: (1) those with highly concrete learning styles learn best by direct contact type activities and (2)…

Mentally retarded persons in sheltered workshops in West Virginia were studied in order to determine their learning styles and how these learning styles related to the populations studied by Witkin and others. (Witkin classified learning styles as either field independent--i.e. task oriented--or field-dependent--i.e., oriented to the social…

The instructional components of mediation, a teaching technique used in dynamic assessment, were evaluated with 100 four-year-old children attending daycare or preschools in London, Ontario. The effects of familiarization with task materials, task-specific rule teaching, and elaborated feedback were assessed using a pretest-posttest design.…

Ascertaining changes in cognitive correlates of learning as students advanced through hierarchical instruction, 24 individual difference measures were obtained from 166 Navy trainees who had completed a computer-managed mastery course in electricity and electronics. Three types of cognitive characteristic measures were used in the study--tests of…

Describes a study which was designed to determine the effect of a 25-hour introductory qualitative analysis course on high school students' understanding of formal concepts related to electrolytes. Suggests that introductory concrete experiences better prepare students to deal with more formal abstract concepts. (TW)

THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERING TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND OF VARIOUS STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS UPON LEARNING IN COLLEGE WERE MEASURED BY AN INSTRUMENT CALLED THE "CRITERIA TEST," WHICH CONTAINED SUBTESTS FOR MEASURING SEVERAL LEVELS OF COGNITIVE COURSE OUTCOMES AS FUNCTIONS OF INTERACTIONS AMONG METHODS OF TEACHING, TEACHER PERSONALITY, AND…

This book contains eight papers examining vocational expertise and how best to develop it. The first paper, "Vocational Expertise" (John Stevenson), presents five approaches to developing it. The role of context in patterning cognition is considered in "Authenticity in Workplace Learning Settings" (Stephen Billett). In…