Suggests that labels of learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, and behavioral disorders are inaccurate and devastating. Teachers, parents, and students must learn to recognize, understand, and manage strengths and weaknesses in brain function. Everyone has learning differences, and nobody has a perfect brain. The paper describes the…

Knowing learner preferences can inform instructional design, but may not produce effective online learning. Five attributes that are strong predictors of an innovation's effectiveness should also be considered: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. (JOW)

This study compared social learning styles of distance education students (N=40) and equivalent on-campus students (N=63) in health education classes. Comparison on the Grasha-Reichmann Student Learning Style Scales found distance students favored independent learning styles whereas students in the on-campus class were significantly more dependent…

Questionnaires were completed by 50 college faculty who each evaluated a course they had taught which emphasized technology and another course taught more traditionally. Several correlations were found among presence or absence of technology, instructors' teaching styles, and instructors' perception of average student learning style. (DB)

Marketing students (n=99) used computer simulation, 34 did not. Students who performed well on traditional exams also did well on the simulation. Students who preferred working with others seemed to perform more poorly on both the exam and the simulation. (SK)

Investigates the learning styles of English students identified as school refusers and compares their style distribution to that of students in regular attendance in mainstream English secondary schools. Indicates that, compared to those attending school regularly, the learning style of refusers was skewed toward the Wholist end of the…

Cognitive technical skills assessments, the Group Embedded Figures Test, Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking assessment, and a problem-solving inventory were completed by 15 maintenance technicians. Near-transfer problem-solving skills were predicted by cognitive ability, years of experience, and critical thinking. Field dependence/independence and…

Three brain-research principles--emotional safety, appropriate challenge, and self-constructed meaning--find a one-size-fits-all approach to classroom teaching ineffective for most students. A child needing an open learning environment will feel intimidated by a controlling teacher. Differentiated classrooms are responsive to students' varying…

Demonstrates how students' metacognitive skill may be enhanced through writing learning statements. Uses a framework of multiple intelligences and learning style theories to describe how teachers can guide students through reflective writing exercises to help them understand how they learn. (SR)

Discusses the importance of conveying content material in a course while addressing student learning styles. Directs student study time toward major concepts and encourages them to teach themselves some of the material so that classroom time is largely used to explore more difficult material and applications. Emphasizes instructors focusing on…

Argues that teachers who manage their classrooms around learning style instruction are engaging in a practice of debatable value. Notes a lack of supportive research and the questionable reliability and validity of learning style inventories. Suggests that confusion over learning style instruction is magnified by the limitations inherent in the…

Tests the hypothesis that holistic students tend to use communication strategies that are based on holistic comparison, and analytic students tend to use strategies that are based on description and segmental perspectives. Suggests that individual differences in patterns of communication strategy usage can be attributed in part to cognitive style.…

Proposes the concept of cultural validity as a form of test validity in science assessment. Contends that current approaches to handling student diversity in assessment are limited. Discusses ways in which adopting cultural validity as a criterion for test validity makes it necessary to shift assessment paradigms and adopt new procedures for…

Explores the notion of practical wisdom as an alternative to current formulations of critical thinking. Concludes that practical wisdom, unlike critical thinking, allows one to address uncertainty and ambiguity, and recognize that thinking is much more than an intellectual cognitive act of an individual. (KS)

Discusses the theory of multiple intelligences and what it tells English teachers about students' writing processes. Discusses results of a study of the writing processes of 10 high school juniors whose cognitive profile featured visual-spatial intelligence and subordinated linguistic aspects. Discusses the importance of matching instructional…