Discusses research on representational pictures, which share physical resemblance with the concept the picture represents; analogical pictures, which convey a concept; and arbitrary pictures, or highly schematized visuals related logically to the things they represent. The contributions of each type to adult conceptual learning and learning from…

Recent advances in theory and research provide a basis for defining higher-order thinking skills and for designing tests of such skills. (MCG)

Critically examines the process approach to the teaching of writing and cautions teachers to maintain a healthy skepticism about any approach that is used. (HOD)

Seeks justification in the theories of Schumann, Brown, and Krashen for TESL Canada's recommendation for early access to English language training for immigrants. These theories may lend support to the existence of a critical period wherein adult immigrants are most likely to make significant progress in the study of English. (SED)

Describes recent turn in media research to functionalist perspective and brings into focus insights into learning mechanisms that might provide benefits to educational technology researchers. Learning factors that media could facilitate are discussed: self-regulation, conflict resolution and reflexive abstraction; coordination of correspondences…

Three major views of intelligence are compared and evaluated: the psychometric, the Piagetian, and the information-processing. The educational implications of each view for training content knowledge and intellectual skills are considered. How each view would approach training students in solving verbal analogies is discussed. (Author/BS)

Building on Bloom's, and subsequent educational taxonomies, a larger, synthetic, theoretical basis, called the process hierarchy theory, is developed. Its relationship to general systems theory and its metatheoretical context are described. A general methodology for empirically testing aspects of the theory using mathematical modeling is explored.…

Summarizes major ideas of articles in special issue on infant intervention programs. Describes current assumptions about infant stimulation, differences between programs based on the populations they serve, and research findings on the efficacy of infant stimulation. Assesses the future of infant intervention. (KH)

Case studies from teachers, special programs, and school districts illustrate a variety of ways learning styles theory can be used in educational environments. Six principles dealing with learning styles are offered to help teachers understand and use learning styles theory in the classroom. (DF)

Argues that teachers can help students become better comprehenders by helping them learn to know when they understand what they are reading and what to do when they do not. (FL)

The efforts of a group of French foreign-language educators since 1968 to develop innovative teaching methods are chronicled by three participants and placed in the scientific, historical, and social contexts of the time and the institutions in which the experiments took place. (MSE)

Describes a new theoretical model of the learning process produced by the computer's strict reliance on procedure and its unique methods for managing data. The implications of this model for mathematics learning are illustrated through an experimental paradigm comparing the problem-solving skills of an expert and a novice. (MBR)

Two studies of children learning to read (one before the introduction of phonics instruction, the other while phonics instruction was being given) found that error-target similarity increased with reading attainment. This suggests that while reading aloud, considerable knowledge of spelling develops independently of explicit use of phonics. (CMG)

Provides a look at primary grade children's abilities, inabilities, and requirements to use phonics as a beginning reading strategy and suggests a model that facilitates children's application of phonics while reading. (FL)

Reports that after more than 50 years of argument as to whether children should be taught the names of letters as part of learning to read, American researchers have begun to suggest that letter name instruction and phonics instruction interact for better learning. (FL)