Included herein is the conference proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. The conference theme for 2012 was: The value of an undergraduate degree in psychology: Why psychology--Why now?. The Conference…

One of the major challenges facing South African higher education institutions is to deal with the learning preferences and styles of an increasing diverse student population. Although much research has been conducted on the identification of learning styles theories for classroom application, little attention has been devoted to the investigation…

Within the field of technology enhanced learning, adaptive educational systems offer an advanced form of learning environment that attempts to meet the needs of different students. Such systems capture and represent, for each student, various characteristics such as knowledge and traits in an individual learner model. Subsequently, using the…

Purpose: In a collaborative learning environment there will be many learners with diverse cultures. These learners should be supported to communicate and collaborate among themselves. The variety of the communication and collaboration tools and modes available to each learner would depend on his/her personal cultural background. The purpose of…

Academic advisors help students with the process of decision making, of making sense of their world, of understanding how they go about learning, and of understanding how to appreciate diversity in their world. If advisors are to help students in these areas, academic advisors should be aware of the cognitive processes of how they make sense of…

Online assessments afford many advantages for teachers and students. Okolo (2006) stated, "As the power, sophistication, and availability of technology have increased in the classroom, online assessments have become a viable tool for providing the type of frequent and dynamic assessment information that educators need to guide instructional…

With the shift in numbers between Canadian-born students in the university classroom and the increased number of international students, it is a primary concern for instructors and instructional designers to know and understand learner characteristics in order to create effective instructional messages and materials. Recognizing how culture might…

The education of children who are gifted is examined with respect to their unique traits as a group, their learning styles, and the best methods for instruction. The focus is elementary level academic instruction and strategies that can be used by regular classroom teachers to challenge students who are gifted. Consideration is given to:…

There has been much discussion recently of the effect that gender and learning style have on student performance. Educators have attempted to develop new teaching and assessment strategies that accommodate a variety of learning styles, and both males and females are becoming more aware of gender-related traits and their relationship to classroom…

Museums, zoos, nature centers, science centers, aquariums, and other similar places provide an opportunity for lifelong learning in a nonthreatening setting for most adults. They are places where nonformal learning (outside the formal learning setting and characterized by voluntary participation) can easily take place through such methods as…

Sometimes multimedia presentations can provide an abundance of glamour without a clear vision of communicative content and direction. These may be called "show and show" displays. A presentation with a more apparent message or purpose could fall into either the "show and tell" or the "show and sell" category. Used…

This handbook was designed for educators of adults at varied levels with varying needs. The techniques discussed in the guide can be used in groups, pairs, or individually. The booklet contains two sections: (1) a brief review of different learning styles and the types of activities that work well for each, including visual, auditory,…

The cognitive style dimension of scanning refers to consistent individual differences in the extensiveness and intensity of spontaneous attention deployment, leading to individual variations in vividness of experience and the span of awareness. The cognitive style of focusing was conceived as an adaptive counterpart to the defense mechanism of…

Noting that understanding a child's brain and the way it develops is the key to understanding learning, this book explores the relationship between brain physiology and children's learning processes. The book first translates the most current scientific theories on nervous-system development into practical information for parents. It then details…

All too often it is assumed that the preferred learning styles of adults who return to college and the support they need to assist them in their studies parallel that of students who enter higher education institutions directly after completing secondary education. This monograph explores the validity of this assumption in a study of first-year…