The possibility is raised of teaching reasoning strategies to students with learning disabilities using a curriculum designed around reasoning by analogy. The research base for such instruction is summarized. These principles of critical thinking are illustrated through examples including reading the newspaper, counseling situations, and content…

A study compared the use of free-form alternative-choice (AC) test items, offering two response options, and both complex and single-best-answer multiple-choice items for use of information in making clinical judgments. Although the AC items' reliability was less than other types, students felt they tested knowledge application, not just recall.…

Speculates that the prewriting technique of "clustering" can be an effective tool for multicultural college students learning sophisticated scientific concepts. Asserts that teachers must be willing to take risks and nurture students' creativity and self-confidence if such techniques are to succeed and supplant or supplement the lecture…

This first installment in a series of edited transcripts based on a conference held at Utah State University in 1987 reviews the main points of Gagne's Learning Theory. Categories of human performance that are discussed include verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, attitudes, and motor skills. (Three references) (LRW)

The study investigated two levels of learning choice and control with 150 gifted South African students (grades 6-8) exposed to the Cognitive Research Trust (CORT) thinking skills program (prestructured) or the Integrated Education Model program (flexibly structured). Results suggested both programs affected locus of control and creativity but not…

Uses on-line protocol analysis to contrast the effects on the writing process of knowledge taught in three instructional treatments: models, general procedures, and task-specific procedures. Finds that the task-specific group integrated their ideas purposefully, thought critically about the concepts being defined, and appeared to establish a…

Provides an overview of the external and internal constraints in relation to summarizing skills and student performance, and suggests pedagogical approaches to mediating the cognitive load. (30 references) (GLR)

Examined whether expert raters (n=5) could agree about classification of Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) items and whether they agreed with MCAT student manual in labeling skill being measured by each test item. Results revealed difficulties in replicating authors' labeling of skills for reading items on practice test provided with 1991 MCAT…

Describes a Learning Activity Portfolio designed to help high school literature students discover and explore the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. (SR)

Applies Gresham's Law ("bad money drives out good") to educators' overreliance on technology. Introducing more advanced "learning" technology without a concomitant emphasis on knowledge acquisition allows some students to operate at increasingly lower thought levels. Higher order thought processes will be displaced (and…

Recent work on memory independence and memory interference in cognitive development has been conducted under fuzzy trace theory. Both memory-to-reasoning and reasoning-to-memory interferences were detected in 3 studies of inferences from stories by 94 4- and 5-year olds and 94 7- and 8-year olds. (SLD)

A metrics and mapping framework is proposed to account for how heuristics, domain-specific reasoning, and intuitive statistical induction processes are integrated to generate estimates. Results of 4 experiments involving 188 undergraduates illustrate framework usefulness and suggest when people use heuristics and when they emphasize…

A professor and educational researcher at Stanford University discusses the evolution of "normal schools" of teacher preparation into the teacher education programs of today, advocates the integration of content material into teacher education, and explains the concept of reflection in teaching. (KS)

Describes two aspects of metacognition, knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition, and how they relate to domain-specific knowledge and cognitive abilities. It is argued that metacognitive knowledge is multidimensional, domain-general in nature, and teachable. Four instructional strategies are described for promoting the construction and…