Describes a metacognitive approach to improving vocabulary. The method trains students to establish a network of relationships among words and relate the words to personal experiences. (HOD)

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the instructional effects of various animation strategies. Three treatment groups involved include static graphic, animation used as an attention-gaining strategy, and animation used as an attention-gaining and elaboration strategy. Participants were 115 college student volunteers. Two-way…

In the book, "How Children Fail", John Holt simply but honestly records classroom interactions in a refreshing, realistic and humorous style of delivery. Many of Holt's real stories have to do with teachers often falling into the trap of asking students questions and looking only for "right answers." Holt's main thrust is child failure in a…

Hannah is a Pacific island grade 1 teacher in a local village school. She has been guided in her teaching practice by the values she learned growing up in an extended family. These values involved observing and listening to elders, and then practicing what she observed and participating in many conversations among family members. Written by the…

Presents methods to stimulate students to use their background knowledge in reading content area texts. Offers a technique to teach students common text structures by having them write to a model. (FL)

A study determined that simulation-gaming was a more effective teaching technique for students with low prior knowledge of economics, low Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, and no high school economics instruction. Lecture-discussion was more effective for those with high precourse economic knowledge, SAT scores, and high school economics…

The change in literature students from those with a strong literature background to those of the "Me" generation who have little exposure to critical reading is explored. Their subjective experiences applied to literature study can be more beneficial than traditional critical theories. (HTH)

Focuses on the importance of background or schemata in learning to read and discusses how to help students use their background knowledge for reading. Suggests teachers need to activate students' prior knowledge of a topic before they begin to read. (VWL)

A study of 144 college students divided into high and low prior-knowledge groups and assigned to four treatment groups found (1) little interaction between prior knowledge of the human cardiovascular system and treatment and (2) significant effects on the drawing test. Terminology and elaboration tests revealed little effects among treatments.…

Investigated how an expert elementary teacher implemented constructivist-oriented teaching strategies to engage students' critical thinking skills when learning creative dance. Data from teacher and student interviews and videotapes of creative dance lessons provided contextual information about using appropriate constructivist-oriented teaching…

As instructors of accounting, we should take an abstract topic (at least to most students) and connect it to content known by students to help increase the effectiveness of our instruction. In a recent semester, ordinary items such as colors, a basketball, and baseball were used to relate the subject of accounting. The accounting topics of account…

The brain is a complex organ and learning is a complex process. While there is not complete agreement among researchers about brain-based learning and its direct connection to neuroscience, knowledge about the brain as well as the examination of cognitive psychology, anthropology, professional experience, and educational research can provide…

This study examined 10th-grade students' use of theory and evidence in evaluating a socio-scientific issue: the use of underground water, after students had received a Science, Technology and Society-oriented instruction. Forty-five male and 45 female students from two intact, single-sex, classes participated in this study. A flow-map method was…

Introductory tertiary level science classes (i.e., at the university or post-compulsory school level) including those for biology face increasing diversity in intake. Previous research has indicated university level teachers assume a certain level of prior knowledge which may or may not be possessed by such students. This report focuses on the use…

This article proposes a model of formative assessment grounded in Vygotsky's theory of concept formation and argues that this model can provide a useful framework for facilitating a beginning teacher's continued learning. The model is used to argue that beginning teachers need to know how to recognize, describe, and use students' prior knowledge…