The Multimedia Education Laboratory of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan develops multimedia-based educational materials presenting difficult concepts and chemical engineering processes. Highlights include software developed for undergraduate courses; the Multimedia Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering Equipment;…

In machine-mediated learning environments, there is a need for more reliable methods of calculating the probability that a learner's response will be correct in future trials. A combination of domain-independent response-state measures of cognition along with two instructional variables for maximum predictive ability are demonstrated. (Author/LRW)

Discusses a language classroom that helps develop a vision for expanding intelligent behavior and reinventing language learning. The article encourages using the seven intelligences--verbal, musical, logical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal--in problem situations and focusing on the varied approach to learning fostered by…

Discussion of course structure in active learning at the college level looks at ways level and type of structure can be varied and manipulated to meet challenges presented by a diverse student body. Issues discussed include the relationship of structure to cognitive style and development, fitting structure to content and objectives, and what can…

Argues that few new techniques for teaching remedial writing courses work. Suggests that learning styles, a research-based teaching approach, has demonstrated statistically significant results. Explains that learning styles aims to provide learning strategies that are compatible with individual learners. Reports on two experiments conducted at an…

A 56-year-old Canada Native took a college course on Australian Indigenous approaches to knowledge. He observed that initially many students were hindered by their past experience with linear paradigms of structured academic processes. Eventually they let their minds access spirit and feeling in addition to thought, allowing a recall of life…

A nuclear physicist feels that his Navajo upbringing, with its emphasis on the structure of nature and abstract reasoning, prepared him well for the world of physics. Traditional Navajo sandpaintings helped him understand physics concepts. Native American students show strengths in learning visual, perceptual, or spatial information, and they…

Recent contributions from theory, research, and practice in second-language instruction are discussed in relation to mathematics education. Three methods of teaching and learning second languages are described--"Delayed Oral Production," the "Silent Way," and the "Counseling Learning/Community Language Learning." (KR)

Discussed are preservice elementary teachers' misconceptions and inconsistent beliefs about multiplication and division with decimals. Sources of inconsistencies and recommendations for overcoming inconsistencies are included. (KR)

Measures preferences students express for communicator styles of their instructors. Finds the most preferred styles were friendly and attentive, followed by relaxed, impression leaving, animated, dramatic, open, precise, dominant, and contentious. Finds that other variables such as IQ, demographics, and students' learning style preference were…

It is important for teachers to be sensitive to and respectful of their students' cultural learning styles without stereotyping. Matching teaching styles to learning styles is necessary; a student's learning style is neither an excuse for poor teaching nor an index of low capacity. (SM)

The relationship between modality styles and reading achievement was studied for 51 first graders given 2 subtests of the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, 2 subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and 2 tests of nonsense words. There was no significant interaction between modality preference and reading achievement. (SLD)

Discusses research on Australian Aboriginal cognition which relates to the development of appropriate educational software. Describes "Tinja," a software program using familiar content and experiences, Aboriginal characters and cultural values, extensive graphics and animation, peer and group work, and open-ended design to help young…

Investigates the effects of verbal and pictorial advance organizers on science text comprehension of children with high or low prior knowledge. Finds that verbal advance organizers assist text comprehension of children with strong prior knowledge, while the addition of a pictorial component aids comprehension of children with weak prior knowledge.…

Presented is a case study of a boy who could not process language auditorily even though he had normal hearing. The boy, who was hyperactive and had a monosyllabic vocabulary at the age of four, received training on speech patterns through sign language and repetition and became a high-achieving student. (JDD)