Four experiments examined 8- to 12-month olds on search and nonsearch A not B tasks, a one-location task, and control tasks. Results indicated memory for where object was hidden and expectations of where it should be found. The effect occurred at delays at which infants made the A not B error when searching, and at a longer 15-second delay.…

Presents findings from an analysis of classroom discussions aimed at constructing shared knowledge. Demonstrates how students build up new concepts by renegotiating and sharing meanings and ideas during argumentative exchanges. Suggests that collaborative discourse-reasoning can support students' gradual mastery of discursive practices…

Multimedia learners (n=146 college students) were able to integrate words and computer-presented pictures more easily when the words were presented aurally rather than visually. This split-attention effect is consistent with a dual-processing model of working memory. (SLD)

Examined relationship between anxiety and memory in 160 high- and low-trait-anxious sixth through eighth graders. Found that anxiety predicted memory bias toward negative relative to neutral information during conceptual but not perceptual tasks. Anxiety predicted memory bias toward positive relative to neutral information on procedural tasks and…

Examines the theoretical rationales (universal grammar, information-processing theories, skill-learning theories) for input-based grammar teaching and reviews classroom-oriented research (i.e., enriched-input studies, input-processing studies) that has integrated this option. (Author/VWL)

Evaluated the distinctiveness, independence, and relative time courses of the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by syntactically and semantically anomalous words. ERPs were recorded while subjects read sentences, some of which contained a selectional restriction violation, a verb-tense violation, or a doubly anomalous word that…

Takes a situated-cognition perspective on learning and cognitive development. Presents a detailed framework that includes operationalizations for levels of situated learning. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Investigates the influence of Captain's Log, a computerized cognitive-training system, on the behaviors and performance capabilities of severely disturbed children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (N=4). Results support the expectation that children who are most successful in the training would demonstrate the highest levels of…

Used a variance-partitioning procedure to identify age-related and age-invariant components of verbal and spatial memory span in 6- to 12-year olds. Concluded that verbal and spatial short-term memory appear to rely on similar processes when serial recall is required and that development in span is closely tied to increases in processing speed.…

Discusses students' perceptions of using writing as a component of their science learning. Results, collected over four years, are organized to include students' perceptions of writing in science, learning, ownership, purpose, and science. These results are then discussed in terms of students' developing metacognition and epistemologies of…

Examines the impact that an older adult's neurological impairment can have on family structure and functioning. A short-term model for psychotherapeutic intervention with families is presented. The model addresses cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of family functioning in light of the neurological impairment. (Author/MKA)

Outlines the evaluation pressures that prevent teachers from focusing on the main goal of education: stimulating students to think. Students are under their own pressures that detract from real learning. Definition of the word "think" (to exercise the mind otherwise than by passive reception of another's thoughts) is used to illustrate examples of…

Taps the voices of college-bound high school students concerning what it means to understand and succeed in introductory chemistry. Employs ethnographic and interpretive methods. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

Reports on a study of a physics class in which few interactions occur among students. Concludes, through observations and interviews. that students describe both the social and physical world in different ways. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

Investigated the online processing strategies used by a sample of nonnative speakers of English who were asked to give the meanings of selected common idioms presented in a written context. Data were gathered using a think-aloud procedure; participants were asked to verbalize their thoughts as they arrived at the meaning of the idioms. (Author/VWL)