Traditional learning theories stress that people are either conditioned through reward and punishment or by close association with neutral or evocative stimuli. These direct experience theories do not account for people's learning complex behavior through observation. Attentional, retention, motoric reproduction, reinforcement, and motivational…

The relationship between beliefs in the legitimacy of political objects and approval of political protest and violence was investigated. Beliefs in political legitimacy are shown to be of considerable importance in structuring opinions about political violence but have little impact on opinions about protest. (Author/BJG)

Paper presented at the International Seminar on Experimental Research in Music Education (University of Reading, Reading, England, July 9-16, 1968).

Drawing upon research into the nature of the English writing system and about the development of spelling ability, this booklet presents an approach to improving spelling and vocabulary at the secondary school level based on a knowledge of the fabric of the language itself. The first section of the booklet reviews theory and research concerning…

Many students are not skilled "thinkers" or "problem solvers." Extensive research has been conducted to describe the mental processes involved in problem solving in the hope of establishing a theoretical basis for training students to become more adept at reasoning. Certain problems become evident, however, when reviewing literature for designing…

One difficulty that mathematically naive subjects encounter in solving arithmetic word problems involves the limitation on short term memory (STM) capacity. It is hypothesized that naive subjects, not having access to formal problem solving strategies, may find visualization useful in reducing strain on STM. Two experiments are reported. The…

A reader's background knowledge (schemata) and purpose for reading have an overriding influence upon the reader's development of meaning. Reading comprehension also involves activating, focusing, maintaining, and refining ideas toward developing interpretations that are plausible, cohesive, and complete. Recent examinations of instructional…

To help refine a model of educational productivity, this paper reviews eight theories that present holistic models of in-school learning. The holistic models, all published between 1963 and 1978, involve either individual learners or single learning tasks. The authors discuss each model in turn and then compare them. They note that the theories…

Prepared as part of a continuing study of the instructional practices that make up the process of schooling, this paper concentrates on the practices that comprise reading comprehension instruction. The paper focuses on four skills commonly taught and assessed as part of many widely used reading comprehension instruction programs in the…

The effects of sentence imitation and picture verification on the recall of subsequent digits were studied. Stimuli consisted of 20 sentences, each sentence followed by a string of five digit names, and five structural types of sentences were presented. Subjects were instructed to listen to the sentence and digit string and then either immediately…

Virtually all composition research has been done about teaching methodology; little research about the theory of the process of composition has been done. A 1964 study, the first on the composition process, used as an operational definition the concept of the composing process as being a series: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. This linear…