Establishing schooling/larger world connections is critical for adolescents. The contextual learning approach views learning as most effective when information is presented within a familiar framework. Employing puzzles, hands-on learning activities, project-based learning, contextual connections, applied math, mentoring, and wider audiences…

Provides basic information about language anxiety and how to handle it. Specific sections address the following: anxiety and its effects on learning and performance; what language anxiety is; what causes language anxiety; what language anxiety does; identifying students who have language anxiety; and managing language anxiety. (Author/VWL)

Investigated the learning style preferences and approaches to learning of international students from Asian backgrounds compared to those of Australian students. Found no statistically significant differences between students in their overall "approaches to learning," but did find differences in "learning style preferences,"…

Proposes using anecdotes in introductory psychology courses to teach key points, principles, and people. Offers theoretical and empirical support for anecdotes as teaching tools. Believes that anecdotes, such as when Gordon Allport met Sigmund Freud, provide an enjoyable experience and enable students to better remember information. (CMK)

Reports the development, delivery, and assessment of a project-based spiral curriculum for the first sequence chemical engineering courses. Technical proficiency of students under the spiral curriculum was equal to or better than that of students under a traditional curriculum. Attitudes toward chemical engineering and teamwork were better, and…

Using contextual or applied methods of instruction when teaching is not a new notion. However, it is receiving new attention as many school districts begin restructuring their curricula to meet the needs of students preparing to take their places in the rapidly changing world of work. Contextual instruction has traditionally been used in career…

This study concerns the contingent nature of the relationships of student-teacher style match (or mismatch) to students' academic achievement. Participants were 135 (59 male and 76 female) students (average age of 21.5 years) from three academic disciplines (mathematics, physics, and public administration) who responded to the Thinking Styles…

This study reports on an initiative using Meyer's (2000a) Reflections on Learning Inventory (RoLI) to bring first-year students' understandings of themselves as learners together with the expectations of their academic subjects. Students on a generic skills-based programme were asked to discussed their RoLI profiles with their academic tutor, and…

In an attempt to serve online students' needs, several questions were asked: Is there a dominant learning style of students in online courses? Is there a preferred method of online instruction? Is there a relationship between learning styles and the preferred method of online instruction? A two-part survey was administered to all graduate students…

Learning styles research has been widely applied within the fields of management education and development. This article introduces an alternative concept of learning styles approach to learning which has scarcely impacted on the field of management learning. The development of an approach to learning instrument, the Revised Approaches to Studying…

This study examined relations among responsibility attitudes, metacognitive beliefs, and obsessive?compulsive (O?C) symptoms in youth. One hundred sixty-six nonclinical youth (ages 13 to 17 years) completed the following: Responsibility Attitude Scale (RAS; Salkovskis et al., 2000); Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire?Adolescent Version (MCQ?A;…

This study explores the psychological type profile of Roman Catholic priests. A sample of 79 priests completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Form G). The study shows that Roman Catholic priests tend to prefer introversion over extraversion, feeling over thinking and judging over perceiving. Near equal preferences are shown for sensing and…

Kolb (2004) and others have defined learning style as a preference by which students learn and remember what they have learned. This presentation will include a summary of learning style research published in the "Engineering Design Graphics Journal" over the past 15 years on the topic of learning styles and graphics education. The…

Cognitive learning style instruments continue to enjoy widespread use in educational and occupational contexts by researchers and practitioners alike, despite widespread questions about the valid measurement of cognitive learning styles. This investigation examines the psychometric properties of one well-known measure of cognitive learning…

Every curriculum document mentions critical thinking. There are three reasons which are especially influential in relegating critical thinking to a sideshow on the educational agenda: (1) proliferation of thinking "skills"; (2) the ranking of thinking skills; and (3) separation of "skills" from content. Critical teaching can assume a rightfully…