Discusses the following factors influencing learning: (1) environment; (2) emotional makeup; (3) persistence; (4) timing of learning; (5) teaching method; (6) cognitive style; (7) food intake; and (8) psychological factors, including the difference between analytical and global thinking. Discusses how to get a sense of one's personal learning…

Explored differences between high- and low-achieving freshmen women on cognitive and psychological variables. Results support hypotheses that high achievers would have a more internal locus of control, be more cognitively complex, possess a higher academic self-concept, and report more confidence in their ability and effort than would students in…

Reviews cultural differences between American Indian and European-American educational values, and educational concerns related to being caught between two cultures--biological deprivation, dissonance in cognitive style and motivational systems, and poor self-concept. Discusses implications for vocational and career counseling. Contains 26…

Summarizes the findings of a project that investigated the use of learning strategies by foreign language students and their teachers, and suggests classroom applications for learning strategy instruction. The project identified the differences in strategy use among effective and ineffective language learners and the ways in which teachers could…

Reports on two studies designed to develop and evaluate the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Positive (ATQ-P), a measure of positive automatic thinking that is complementary to the ATQ, a measure of negative thinking in psychopathology. Describes results suggesting that ATQ-P is reliable and valid measure of positive thinking. (Author/NB)

Discusses a longitudinal case study of the literacy levels and styles of thinking of a group of males disabled in print acquisition. Finds that subjects rapidly perceived a whole gestalt, executed with an economy of language, and retained strengths in visuospatial, nonverbal processing, while losing verbal language abilities. (RS)

Open Access courses in Great Britain are a means of increasing adult student enrollment in science, engineering, and technology. However, these mature students are not performing as well in the physical and natural sciences as in the social sciences and humanities, raising questions about the curriculum, teaching methods, and assessment used with…

Discussion of the amount of mental effort children invest in television viewing versus book reading focuses on a Dutch study based on Salomon's model and his studies with children in Israel and the United States. The depth of information processed is discussed, and differences in results are examined. (18 references) (LRW)

Obtained parental ratings of competence and behavioral problems for black children and young adolescents (N=150) following acute stress and after crisis. Found consistent socioeconomic status links between the manifestation of behavioral problems and display of competencies: lower income youths manifested more problems and fewer competencies.…

Analyzed 80 nursery school and kindergarten children's use of referential and phonetic strategies in reading and writing. Results indicated that there was a shift with age from the use of referential to phonetic strategies. (RJC)

Examines learning style and interactional style differences of American Indian and Alaskan native students. Provides specific classroom examples and research findings concerning culturally influenced learning styles, the visual approach to learning, field dependence, public versus private demonstration of learning, and cooperation versus…

Finds that, among 200 Alaskan high school seniors completing the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS), natives and non-natives differed significantly from each other and from the PEPS norm group on selected aspects of learning styles. Presents pedagogical recommendations for Alaskan students. Contains 28 references. (SV)

Proposes a phenomenological approach to the teaching of political science. Argues that this approach will more effectively introduce college students to the content and methods of politics by relating these to their social experience. Discusses books in which the political world is constructed from the bottom-up rather than the top down. (KO)

Administered Noncognitive Questionnaire to 230 international students prior to matriculation as college freshmen. Results identified noncognitive variables predictive of student use of counseling center services over four-year period. Counseling center use was significantly predicted by students' understanding and ability to deal with racism,…

Reviews studies concerned with perceptual learning styles and provides a research basis for an experimental procedure which allows students to be introduced to new information through their strongest modality, to have that information reinforced through multisensory assignments, and to internalize the information through application in a creative…