Recent research in psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that co-speech gestures are semantically integrated with speech during language comprehension and development. The present study explored whether gestures also play a role in language learning in adults. In Experiment 1, we exposed adults to a brief training session presenting novel…

Reading difficulties and disabilities present serious and potentially lifelong challenges. Children who do not read well are more likely to be retained a grade in school, drop out of high school, become a teen parent, or enter the juvenile justice system. Building on the extant research and seminal studies, including the National Reading Panel and…

A theoretical situation-person-interactions model of learning and performance is presented, and applications of the model through the Instrumental Language Functions (ILF) approach with preschool normal and older variously handicapped children and adults are described. The model is graphically depicted and discussed according to such aspects as…

Summarizes research evidence based on models of cognitive structure and memory and suggests some instructional implications of the generalizations offered. (AL)

Reports that recent research on strategies for increasing learning from reading suggests that developmentally appropriate instructions to create mental images, to verbally elaborate, and to relate new information to prior knowledge may increase students' recall of what they read. (FL)

Concept maps are diagrams that show students how content is structured. This article asserts that they can be effective teaching and learning tools. It presents one method of concept mapping and several ways it can be used in the classroom. (EV)

This article describes school desegregation as a 3-generational, intricately linked process. The 1st generation included efforts toward physical desegregation for African American students; the 2nd generation emphasized equal access to classrooms, teaching bias, and ability groups; and the challenges of the 3rd generation include barriers to equal…

The mnemonic device can be a terrific tool to help students memorize those things that are so easy to forget. A mnemonic device is a trick or strategy to help remember something. Adults use them every day. Frequiently, they may use a rhyme to help them remember how many days are in each month and they often use associations or alliterations to…

This paper examines one of the potential roles that software agents may have in helping students reduce working memory load while learning from discovery-based multimedia environments: providing explanatory feedback. Two studies examined the "guided feedback hypothesis" according to which, discovery learning environments that use explanatory…

The Russian-educated author describes active-learning classroom activities that she created and implemented during her first experience teaching lower- and upper-level undergraduate mathematics courses in the United States. The article begins with a discussion of how the author incorporated humorous stories and memo-pictures into the classroom.…

Around 1960, there were quite radical changes in emphasis in many countries in school chemistry education, with subsequent changes in many university courses. Considerable research was undertaken to explore the learning problems students were reporting and the common thread underlying became apparent: it related to the way humans process new…

Tai ji quan, also known as "tai chi," is an ancient Chinese exercise characterized by soft, slow, and meditative movements. It consists of a set of continuous, evenly paced, carefully choreographed, but natural, body shifts. "Tai ji" is an ancient Chinese philosophy, while "tai ji quan" refers to a type of physical activity based on tai ji…

Cognition is a general term describing the mental capacities of an animal, and often includes the ability to categorize, remember, and communicate about objects in the environment. Numerous regions of the telencephalon (cerebral cortex and limbic system) are responsible for these cognitive functions. Although many researchers have used traditional…

The use of a three-step decoding strategy with constant time delay for teaching decoding and word reading to students with mild and moderate mental retardation was investigated in this study. A multiple probe design was used to examine the percentage of words correctly decoded and read as well as the percentage of sounds correctly decoded. The…

Discusses the value of memorized factual material in science. Describes the use of mnemonic devices to facilitate memorization. Provides a list of 14 mnemonic devices commonly used in science other than ROY G. BIV, which is used to remember the colors of the visible spectrum. (CW)