This report examines the importance of learning communities within institutions of higher education. It identifies two important dimensions of learning communities: (1) primary membership, which differentiates based on the characteristic that group members hold in common; these include learning organizations, faculty learning communities, and…

This study examined the effects of instruction versus no instruction of comprehension monitoring strategies on the metacognitive awareness and reading achievement of third and fifth grade students. The study also examined the effects of direct instruction of a written or checksheet comprehension monitoring strategy on the metacognitive awareness…

Alternative conceptions of classroom learning are explored in this paper, with a focus on challenging current assumptions about learning, teaching, and creating conditions to improve schools. The constructivist view is offered as a different approach to the behaviorist concept of learning and the metaphor of the classroom as a workplace. From a…

This paper addresses issues in integrating higher order thinking into the general curriculum. Data are based on a series of telephone interviews conducted in April and May 1992 with six leading thinkers in educational reform. They included: (1) Michael Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum, Instruction, and Educational Policy Studies at the…

This study investigates the relationship between speed of recognition and accuracy of the responses when visual mental imagery is controlled through imagery instructions. The procedure was to compare the achievement of learners where the independent variable was imagery instructions. The subjects were two 20-person groups of undergraduates from a…

This handbook contains the evaluation strategy and the instructional strategy components of the Evaluating Students' Learning and Communication Processes program. The program described in the handbook is based on the principle that secondary school students' achievement is related to the extent to which students have independent control over…

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate that new and highly effective computer-based learning tools can be designed by adhering to a simple principle: Good learning tools conform to and support the processes and structures that comprise learning. The paper first discusses the processes involved in learning cognitive skills, then describes…

A study traced the discourse control of one writer, over 3 years, from his basic writing course to his junior year "membership" in academia. It reported on the student's transitions in areas of print code control in 28 writing tasks from 6 classes covering 3 disciplines. The analysis involved 38 error patterns, including spelling,…

The only feasible path to a truly critical pedagogy is the destruction of the university. Before teachers and students ever arrive in the classroom, they have certain "places" within a blind, faceless institution which mark them in ways which must somehow be overcome for a truly critical pedagogy to develop. Analyzing how these roles are…

Research on Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory was used as a foundation to investigate differences in the learning and transfer ability of 30 students with learning disabilities (LD) and 30 students with matched low achievement (LA), from grades 7 and 8. The two groups were assessed on their problem-solving ability on a balance scale…

The relationship between course work and general learning at Stanford University (California), Mills College (California), and Ithaca College (New York) was studied. The study used the Differential Course Work Patterns (DCP) Project faculty survey and Cluster Analytic Model (CAM) to link course work to student assessment. The study examined what…

Using the Cluster Analytic Model (CAM), two samples of graduating seniors from Georgia State University were studied to determine the effect of different patterns of college course work on their general learned abilities. The CAM uses Student Achievement Test scores, Graduate Record Examination scores, and transcripts for course work patterns.…

This article describes how, over the past 25 years, sociolinguistics and education have entered into a methodological and intellectual dialogue that has significantly changed both views of language and theories of how language enters into school learning processes. The first section, "Literacy, Language and the Problem of Differential Learning,"…

Intended for practitioners, this book identifies some important strategies for processing information in different ways. The book is organized around the framework of Bloom's Taxonomy: remembering information, understanding information, applying information, analyzing information, synthesizing/creating information, and evaluating/criticizing…

This paper proposes a definition of social skills in order to operationalize the components that need to be considered when teaching social skills to individuals with mental retardation in employment settings. It also presents current approaches to teaching social skills in employment settings. Social skills are defined as goal-oriented,…