Two studies explored the use of students' remembrances of school during preservice elementary education pedagogy courses. The studies assumed that cognitive schemas activated by writing remembrances would mediate the influence of experience on the interpretation of course content. The studies examined what kind of school experiences preservice…

Recent studies refuting the effectiveness of advance organizers in preparing students to comprehend text material have not met the conditions necessary for advance organizers to succeed. According to the assimilation theory, which holds that people learn by chaining what is known to what is to be learned, the following conditions must be met for…

Readers need to be encouraged to combine prior knowledge with information gained from the text and then try to predict what will happen later in the text. The overhead projector is a valuable tool for enhancing instruction involving prediction. The process of gradually revealing text to a group of students, eliciting their predictions, evaluating…

A study examined (1) relationships between background knowledge and reading passage comprehension, (2) the reliability of a passage-specific background knowledge measure used as the knowledge criterion, (3) the effect of a prereading language and concept organizer activity on available background knowledge, and (4) the effect of that prereading…

Ten- to thirteen-year-old children selected either the objectively more effective keyword method or the naturalistic context method for learning vocabulary meanings. Concludes that, even in the absence of explicit performance feedback, children can be induced to reflect on their use of strategies and their outcomes on subsequent cognitive actions.…

This report looks at how three secondary English teachers responded to the curriculum materials they encountered as new teachers. The authors were particularly interested in knowing how the materials helped the new teachers learn about teaching language arts. To this end, the authors explored the teachers' perception and use of two sets of…

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the holistic approach, as compared to the segregated-skill approach, on the quantity and quality of EFL students' academic writing. The subjects for the study were 64 graduates enrolled in the Special Diploma in Education at the School of Education in Suez during the second semester…

Submits classroom research on students' recognition of cliches. Notes that many beginning writers are unfamiliar with many cliches. Suggests that teachers should be aware of students' limited language experiences and adjust their teaching methods accordingly. (RL)

A review of the role of prior knowledge, metacognition, and intentionality in learning culminates in an example of how knowledge building--the community construction of new knowledge through theory construction and revision--works in a Canadian elementary science class. Comparing theories on the "public forum" of networked software…

Provides a way to introduce students to the philosophical roots of psychology by surveying their assumptions on the nature of mind, emotions, and behavior. Describes and gives examples of a 50-item Likert-scale questionnaire concerning positions of the philosophers, biologists, and psychologists discussed in the class. (MJP)

Discusses results of a study based on a sample of secondary school teachers in Germany that was conducted to analyze the relationships between prior knowledge of content- and context-area topics and teaching practices in the computer education curriculum. The use of path analysis is described, and gender differences are examined. (Contains 11…

Describes three learner assessment strategies and their possible effects on text design strategies for distance education materials. Prior knowledge, reading ability and text readability, and learning styles are examined; learner characteristics and potential instructional strategies are discussed; and the relationship of learning styles to…

Examined elaboration strategy--verbal elaboration, imagery, or keyword--use as a function of prior knowledge with students in grades two, four, and six. Found support for elaborative interrogation for all grade levels when learners had access to an extensive network of information. Imagery appeared to be the strategy of choice when background…

The purpose of this study was to investigate distance learning variables and their possible contributions to successful distance learning receptivity. The variables used in this study included gender, age, computer experience, learning style, and students taking an educational technology (EDTC) course and students taking a statistics (non-EDTC)…

Evidence for the superiority of guided instruction is explained in the context of our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, expert-novice differences, and cognitive load. Although unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures…