Describes outcomes of the K-6 Core Knowledge curriculum at Crooksville Elementary School. Core Knowledge was developed in the late 1980s by University of Virginia Professor E.D. Hirsch, who says that the "learning-how-to-learn" philosophy has produced generations of children ignorant of world history, geography, and literature. Some…

Focuses on the need for self-assessment as a learning strategy for second language learning. Argues that self-assessment produces learners who are more active and focused and better placed to assess their own progress in terms of communication. Offers practical suggestions for carrying self-assessment at the secondary school and university level.…

Describes an undergraduate chemistry curriculum, designed to capitalize on the strengths of mechanistic organic chemistry, that enables students to grasp the powerful conceptual unity that allows professional chemists to understand unfamiliar results according to a few well-defined principles. Discusses the philosophy, curriculum, and the nature…

Through meta-analysis, 51 studies are examined in which interventions were aimed to enhance student learning by improving student use of either one or a combination of learning or study skills. Results obtained, through categorizing the interventions in hierarchical levels of structural complexity and as either near or far in terms of transfer,…

Two experiments involving 226 college students were conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of increasing students' incentive motivation for studying and prescribing a text-processing strategy for them to use in studying. Findings suggest that the use of students' acquired learning strategies depends on their motivational levels. (SLD)

Summarizes Hillock's findings regarding first-language composition instruction and compares them to research into second-language composition instruction. The article discusses implications for teaching writing to English-as-a-Second-Language students and recommends a process/product, task-based approach to writing instruction. (20 references)…

Studied the effectiveness of a teacher training approach in which preservice mathematics teachers conduct and analyze one-to-one mathematics assessment interviews with primary-aged children. Findings from interviews with five teachers and a focus group of six indicate teachers are more aware of the strategies children use including their variety…

Examines the composing process and writing strategies of three lower proficiency Japanese subjects in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). Found that while some L1 strategies may transfer to the L2 writing processes, lower proficiency writers struggle in utilizing all strategies that could help their writing process in the L2.…

Explains and analyzes three British information literacy models, focusing on the need to ensure that they work for students, teachers, and library media specialists. Describes criteria that are critical to an inquiry-based learning perspective in each of the three major phases of an inquiry process. (LRW)

Describes an engineering course for education and other nonscience majors. In this course, students integrate basic principles of applied physical science and engineering to solve authentic design problems. Discusses the nature of the interactive and problem-based instructional format and its effects on developing students' scientific inquiry…

This study investigated whether the process of representational change undergoes developmental change or different processes occupy different niches in the course of knowledge acquisition. Subjects--college, third-, and sixth-grade students--solved gear system problems over two sessions. Findings indicated that for all grades, discovery of the…

Describes the problem-based learning (PBL) format adopted by the communications program at Samford University in Alabama. Consists of two semester classes, the first being an introduction to speaking and writing, and the second emphasizing research and argumentation. States that the PBL approach to the course connects service learning to writing…

Argues that it is critical to assess the extent of students' cumulative learning in problem-based learning (PBL) undergraduate education. Discusses five myths about this assessment process, including (1) there are no instruments that assess skills, attitudes, and knowledge associated with PBL; and (2) we can only assess what students learn within…

Explores learning processes in 8th grade physics classrooms in Germany. Collects data with regard to cognitive, cognitive-emotional, and emotional variables. Shows that positive emotions are more important in acquisition than in practice, and anxieties play an ambiguous role in practice. Indicates that joy about learning is linked to successful…

Discusses underlying mental processes for understanding volume measurement. Presents an instructional activity that promotes students' structuring of three-dimensional arrays of cubes and the electronic version of the "How Many Cubes?" activities. Includes student activity sheets. (KHR)