Reports a study of the influence of prior experiences on traditional and nontraditional preservice teachers' personal constructs of teaching and pedagogical development. Results of anthropological, stimulated recall, and concept map think-aloud interviews revealed many categories of prior experiences that significantly influenced preservice…

Discusses rapid changes in use of computers and related technologies in colleges and universities; the impact of current inequities in precollege access and use of computers experienced by African-American, Hispanic, and American Indian students; and strategies and recommendations to enhance the computer competence of minority students in colleges…

Discusses gender differences in the use of computers in education based on a review of the literature. Highlights include prior exposure to computers; access to home computers; influences from the socialization process, including sex stereotypes; and differences in learning processes, including innate perceptual differences. (19 references) (LRW)

Canadian Inuit and Mohawk indigenous schools illustrate the meeting of formal and traditional education models and suggest the dangers in oversimplified "learning style" dichotomies. The western cultural package of standard literacy practice, schooling, and abstract thought is challenged. (Contains 46 references.) (Author/LB)

Preservice teachers completed interviews before and after participating in a support group that encouraged reflective thinking about prior school experiences. Results indicated the critical reflection was very valuable because it kept the subjects from replicating the forms of teaching and learning that might have limited their own lives. (SM)

Examines assumptions inherent in open-ended learning; describes features of open-ended learning environments; and discusses implications for research, development, and implementation of open-ended learning systems. Highlights include context and experience; learner control; higher-order cognitive skills; understanding versus knowing; orienting…

Examined the relationship between depression rates, IQ, knowledge of the finality of death, exposure to suicidal behavior and knowledge of suicide methods. Found that the effect of these factors differed between suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatrically hospitalized children and developmentally delayed adolescents. Also found that the factors had…

Describes results of a survey conducted at Indiana State University libraries that studied patron perceptions and demographics related to keyword searching on LUIS, the online public access catalog (OPAC) available through NOTIS (Northwestern Online Total Integrated System.) Demographics studied include age, status, frequency of LUIS use, and…

Student, beginning, and experienced teachers viewed a videotape of a first grade teacher in action. Researchers compared their written responses to questions about classroom management, teacher-student interactions, and use of student knowledge. They found few differences between student and beginning teachers. Experienced teachers better…

Describes a study that used a computer survey to investigate the relationship between computer attitudes and the selected variables of age, gender, and computer knowledge among adult basic education students in Texas. Hypotheses tested are explained, comparisons are made with a national sample, and recommendations for further studies are…

Several texts for adult literacy classes are reviewed and trends are indicated in the following areas: definitions, assumptions of prior knowledge, teacher guidance, reading instruction, writing instruction, writing expectations, reading/writing strategies, grammar, and illustrative materials. Questions for teacher guidance are appended. (Contains…

Discusses the Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) and describes a pilot project at the Open University (United Kingdom) that introduced credit for APL in one course. Steps in the assessment process are outlined, including constructing a student portfolio; and workload, staff development, and costs are considered. (LRW)

Focuses on an extended learning experience with worms as the main topic in which students collect and organize information and choose an experimental question. Based on the constructivist theory of learning. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

Examined factors that predict foreign-language anxiety. Subjects included 10 university students; a setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that seven variables (age, academic achievement, prior history of visiting foreign countries, prior high school experience with foreign languages, expected overall age for current language course,…

Investigates the procedural understanding of first-year university science students in South Africa. Explores ideas related to the reliability of experimental data and discusses the types of reasoning underlying the responses. (DDR)