This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 35 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the relation of specific perceptual, cognitive, and training variables to reading skills acquisition of kindergarten students; (2) the implications of interest…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effect of training college students in listening and notetaking skills on learning from lecture, (2) an enriched language arts curriculum for gifted primary school students,…

A guide for teachers selecting reading textbooks, this report brings together information about basal programs on the market and clarification of important issues in reading instruction. A general analysis of 20 basal programs includes a prose explication and a table comparing contents (skills), reading selections, methodology, assessment tests,…

Although the teaching of English at Junior Certificate level in Malawi secondary schools has only recently been introduced, some problems have been created by the introduction of the prescribed textbook, "A New Introduction to English Literature." This report opens with a critical review of the textbook, citing certain irrelevancies in…

Intended to help teachers assess the effectiveness of their reading program, this paper suggests how teachers can emphasize comprehension in reading, what behaviors students demonstrate related to getting and creating meaning when reading, and how the classroom environment can promote reading for meaning. After describing effective teacher and…

The guide contains detailed suggestions for teaching 10 books about Indians to older students who read easily and are ready to be introduced to serious literature. The books are When the Legends Die; Laughing Boy; Dancehall of the Dead; The Man Who Killed The Deer; Rolling Thunder; House Made of Dawn; Yes Is Better Than No; The Man To Send Rain…

This booklet provides suggestions for student activities appropriate for introducing ideas about forces and their relationship to motion at the Form 1 to 4 level. The overall program is divided into five parts and is based on knowledge of views about force, friction, and gravity which children bring with them to science classrooms. An overview of…

This unit consists of four parts. Part 1 contains a five-item instrument designed to help teachers clarify their own views about "burning." Part 2 discusses scientists' views about burning and lists answers to the survey instrument presented in part 1. Part 3 contrasts scientists' views with children's views, using children's comments…

A study compared the effects of two instructional strategies on ninth grade students' reading comprehension, retention, and attitude. Students in 15 ninth-grade classes were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: summary writing (SW), writing short answers to questions (QA), and rereading (RR), (control). The dependent measures were good…

Today, more than ever before, teachers are devoting much of their intellectual and emotional energy to helping students better understand the school texts that they are required to read. This can best be accomplished through six changes in the way reading comprehension is taught: (1) accept an active-constructive model of reading comprehension;…

The first working paper of the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--"Toward a Framework," outlined what was then seen (1982) as the major aim of the project and proposed a research plan that seemed capable of enabling the project to establish difficulties that teachers have teaching science, to identify difficulties children…

This study was designed to compare (on locus of control and several achievement variables) middle school students who have been instructed for two semesters in a cooperative learning study skills class with those who have been instructed for two semesters in a competitive study skills class. Seventy-six eighth graders were given a semester of…

A study investigated the inference strategies used by sixth grade students reading narratives, and the results were compared with the inference strategies identified as those used by skilled adult readers. Subjects, 80 sixth grade students from two Canadian urban centers were divided into two groups: 40 high-proficiency readers and 40…

Writing and reading can be viewed as processes in which meaning is gradually constructed, and this description extends to the visual arts as well. Certain process-oriented thinking skills are inherent in both, including comprehending and composing, regenerating ideas, the application of language learning and processing. Five characteristics of…

In order to investigate the text structure/reading comprehension relationship, this paper reviews recent research on text representation theories. Text structure investigation--research on semantic memory as it is concerned with meaning from the word level through the inference level--follows the premise that sentences are understood in the…