Considers the impact of the Internet and online courses on learning and teaching. Topics include cost-benefit issues; learning styles; teaching styles; satisfying student needs; continuous evaluation for quality assurance; technological issues; active learning and collaborative learning; interactivity; and online course content. (LRW)

A study investigated the operationalization, the identification, and the prevalence of weak central coherence and poor cognitive shifting in 35 high-functioning adolescents with autism. Weak central coherence and poor cognitive shifting did not appear to be related to measures of symptom severity, social understanding, and social competence.…

Three experimental studies investigated psychological processes underlying the effects of achievement in one domain and on self-perceived competence in another. In Study 1, high achievement in one domain led to lower self-perceived competence in the other. Study 2 showed inverse effects on self-perceived competence based on achievement feedback.…

Fifth graders completed multiple choice exams and measures of cognitive style to determine whether changing answers was more frequent and productive for field independent or field dependent, reflective or impulsive, students. Impulsive students changed more answers and gained more points. Field dependence/field independence did not relate to…

This article discusses the strengths of gifted visual-spatial learners and their struggles with simple concepts. Strategies for teaching visual-spatial learners are provided including general strategies, strategies for making material more meaningful, ways to help such students during lectures, foreign language strategies, math strategies, and…

The contribution of qualitative research consists in "description, verification (of existing theories, hypotheses, generalizations, or practices), evaluation or prescription, as well as understanding" (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992, p. 16). This qualitative study examined the dynamics and complexities, which occur in the natural setting of a seventh…

This article discusses the evolution of teaching approaches in concert with the findings of over three decades of researches on student perceptual strengths. Confusing reports of successes and only limited successes for students with varied perceptual strengths suggest that combined auditory, visual, tactual, and/or kinesthetic instructional…

This study was designed to determine the differences in the teaching patterns of student teachers as compared with experienced teachers in urban, rural, and suburban schools. Lessons were videotaped and behaviors were analyzed to determine the instructional tendencies of the teachers. Conditional probabilities were juxtaposed on a matrix to show…

Education accompanied by social mobility is the cornerstone of the American dream. Yet, each year scores of children, especially those from the underprivileged class, fail to meet even the most modest academic expectations and subsequently never reach their academic potential. This research rejects earlier explanations of academic failure and…

This article describes qualitative and quantitative assessment based on responses of 221 teachers from nine elementary schools in two districts (urban and suburban) to inform plans for reducing and preventing student aggression. Teachers' perceptions of students' aggressive behavior and beliefs were validated against students' self-reports and…

This paper argues for civic education that helps students recognize that reasonable people will disagree about the best ways to live, and that this recognition should frequently impel us toward compromise and accommodation in the public square. Fostering this virtue of reasonable disagreement will require a concerted curricular effort toward…

This article deals with brain research. It discusses how a growing understanding of the way the brain functions offers new insights into the minds of students at all stages of development. Brain-based research deals with classroom-relevant concerns, such as sensory perception, attention, memory, and how emotions affect learning. The goals for…

Online and computer-based instructional gaming is becoming a viable instructional strategy at all levels of education. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of (a) gaming, (b) gaming plus embedded questions, and (c) gaming plus questions plus feedback on delayed retention of different types of educational objectives for students…

Gifted students are often described in the literature as being self-regulated, self-directed learners. Ten gifted primary students were interviewed in order to clarify the concept of self-directed learning in students of primary age. The students provided information on their knowledge of self-directed learning, explanations of the self-directed…

The author details a Perkins Grant-funded project of the Medical Education Center at Northern Virginia Community College that is designed to increase student retention by teaching students to identify and to use their learning style preference(s). (Contains 1 chart.)