Suggests developmental reading courses that permit the student to explore the text's meaning through his or her own experiences, rather than impressing on them one "correct" meaning. (HTH)

Students enrolled in an introductory biology course were tested to measure prior knowledge and locus of control; data were used to examine trends in achievement. Findings suggest relative importance of prior knowledge and relative insignificance of locus of control in learning biology concepts at the college level. (DS)

Subjects named or categorized a picture preceded sometime earlier by itself or by its verbal label, as well as a word preceded by itself or a pictorial counterpart. Pictures clearly profited more when the task was naming, whereas words profited more when subjects performed a categorization task. (Author/GDC)

The effects of prior knowledge and progress assessment on learning behaviors and motivation were studied in the context of self-study by students at the Open University of the Netherlands. Results with 1,482 adult students show their positive appreciation of assessments for student support but less appreciation of feedback received by mail. (SLD)

Presents strategies for encouraging dialog with students from eliciting preconceptions to bringing closure to a unit. Includes the general structure of an instructional unit that employs dialog, strategies for teachers to use, and strategies for students which include active listening. (DDR)

Many older, working students at metropolitan universities have developed skills to function effectively within international work groups. Teaming these students with faculty members as "learner experts" to aid in developing course content or to deliver innovative curricultural experiences may help keep courses up-to-date, relevant, and exciting.…

Tested the effects of prior knowledge and two instructional models--structured problem solving and guided generation (GG)--on mathematical problem solving and transfer to an analogous task. Data on students with high and low prior knowledge highlighted significant main effects for prior knowledge, significant differences on transfer to analogous…

Focuses on the importance of background or schemata in learning to read and discusses how to help students use their background knowledge for reading. Suggests teachers need to activate students' prior knowledge of a topic before they begin to read. (VWL)

Describes the development and validation of the 30-item Computer User Self-Efficacy (CUSE) Scale, a copy of which is appended. Topics include social cognitive theory; experience and computer self-efficacy; gender differences; and the measurement of computer self-efficacy in student computer users and its relevance to learning in higher education.…

A study was conducted of 610 medical students to determine whether postbaccalaureate preparation before matriculation in medical school effected student performance. Results showed lower achievement on some measures of performance in medical school by those who had taken nondegree postbaccalaureate courses. Implications for admission decisions are…

Reports an assessment of the extent to which research findings in developmental psychology textbooks are known to students with limited psychology training. Concludes that many research results reported in textbooks may already be known to students. Attempts to explain this phenomenon, noting implications for developmental psychology teachers.…

Examines the possibility that readers' attitudes toward a topic might color their perception and recall of factual information about that topic presented in expository text. Finds no significant differences among readers with opposing attitudes to the topic in either free recall or multiple-choice test performance. (RS)

Examines the effect of prereading activities on the reading comprehension of three ethnic subgroups. Finds the prereading treatment group had significantly higher literal comprehension test scores than the control group and that there was no difference among the ethnic groups who engaged in the prereading activity. (RS)

Results of a study involving 55 developmental studies college students indicate that regardless of reading competency levels, prior knowledge activation plus advance warning of possible inconsistencies in the text apparently facilitate students' comprehension of counterintuitive science text better than activation alone. (IAH)

Discusses the importance of developing disadvantaged children's background knowledge by using prereading strategies which focus on the text's central ideas. Suggests several guidelines for choosing prereading strategies. (MM)