"Instructional Patterns: Strategies for Maximizing Student Learning" examines instruction from the learners' point of view by showing how instructional patterns can be used to maximize the potential for students to learn. This book explores the interactive patterns that exist in today's classroom and demonstrates how teachers can…

Education in Hong Kong has been developed along a British model that uses examination results to determine students' academic futures: to be allowed to go on to a university to study or to go into the workplace with a tenth-grade education. The system has been described by likening students to Peking ducks who are forced to eat, fattened up for…

This paper focuses on the difficulties of learners of Japanese as a second language from non-kanji backgrounds and the special difficulties they encounter in trying to learn the kanji writing system. It is asserted that most teachers of Japanese as a second language do not spend enough time on kanji teaching, with the students typically forced to…

This article describes a variety of ways learners can help themselves remember new words, choosing the ones that best suit their learning styles. It is asserted that repeated exposure to new lexical items using a variety of means is the most consistent predictor of retention. The use of verbal, visual, tactile, textual, kinesthetic, and sonic…

Describes a classroom exercise that uses a computer simulation to give students a rat's-eye view of a maze. The students call out instructions for navigating the maze. A follow-up presentation examines two theories of learning that explain why the students' are successful in their second navigating attempt. (MJP)

Hong Kong education is based on an imperialist rhetoric which serves to "domesticate" rather than "liberate" the school population. The importance of memorization is clearly evident in education in Hong Kong. The community's educational system reflects a classical Chinese emphasis on familiarity with a set body of texts and on…

The effectiveness of a strategy for remembering words from a word list was investigated in subjects who were high in test anxiety versus subjects who were low in test anxiety. Sixty seventh-grade volunteers from two urban junior high schools were assigned to the strategy training group or the control group. The strategy group was instructed to…

Teaching English as a second language is the purpose of this curriculum guide developed for adult basic literacy classes within the Home Education Livelihood Program in New Mexico. The guide consists of 16 teaching units composed of conversations and exercises with teaching notes. Emphasis is on memorization through oral and written drills. A…

An examination was undertaken of a programed-study procedure employing behavior theory concepts in teaching undergraduate course material. Study units were constructed, containing a specific reading assignment and study guide questions. When the student felt himself to be ready, he was given a test. Progress through the course was contingent upon…

Argues that the field of inorganic chemistry is facing an identity crisis. Proposes that the current call for curriculum reform in inorganic chemistry is an opportunity to return to a stronger discipline. Presents a history of freshman chemical education and recommends a new program for inorganic chemistry. (TW)

Describes six types of illustrations most frequently used in elementary-level content area texts. Presents ideas to teachers for effectively using illustrations to support children's learning and to develop children's abilities to verbalize the information acquired from illustrations. (DST)

Describes the theoretical models which suggest different "levels" in memory processing, corresponding to the short-term and long-term storage of information. Reviews studies substantiating this perspective and outlines strategies for the use of "levels" in developmental education design, as an alternative to rote memorization. (PAA)

This paper reports on an experiment in mathemagenic behavior ("Student inspection and processing activities that give birth to learning") as related to second-language vocabulary learning. The experiment was designed to determine whether visual mnemonics are more effective than unelaborated rehearsal technique for learning FL vocabulary, and…

In "Suggestologiia," Georgi Lozanov discusses his theories of Suggestology, the scientific study of suggestion, and Suggestopedia, the application of suggestion to pedagogy. The Lozanov thesis cannot properly be understood in isolation, however, and Suggestology and Suggestopedia should be considered in relation to yoga, Soviet and…

Suggests that defining critical thinking as assessing authenticity, accuracy, and worth of knowledge claims and arguments also describes the historian's role. Recommends teaching students history in such a way as to necessitate higher level thinking skills. Argues that the writing process helps because it requires evaluation of existing data and…