Attempts to clarify the role of grammar in second-language instruction. It is suggested that changes in language teaching have encouraged the view that grammar is one of several dimensions along which learners need to progress to achieve greater proficiency but that it should not be dominant. (22 references) (CK)

Discusses how to develop effective instructional graphics for multimedia instruction. Topics include graphic symbols; how graphic symbols are processed cognitively; how multimedia graphics affect learners; how graphics can be adapted to educational products for a variety of populations, including adults and children; and a checklist for creating…

Three aspects of JITOL (Just in Time Open Learning) are differentiated according to the importance of the social exchanges, the role of the tutor, and the vision of the knowledge building process. The support of professional learning needs research that analyzes needs and problems, informs regulation and decision making, and highlights the…

The time may be ripe for the fields of mathematics education, special education, and cognitive psychology to converge, with their respective focuses on mathematical problem solving, individual differences among students, and analysis of cognitive processes. Four articles on learning disabilities in mathematics are introduced, and a research agenda…

Highly skilled and less skilled college readers (n=29) were compared on several information-processing and language-comprehension tasks that tap cognitive components of reading. Results confirm that both areas distinguish skilled and less skilled readers and suggest that reading ability is a continuous function. (SLD)

In 2 experiments involving 271 elementary and middle-school students with greater and lesser writing skills, components of the writing-translating process were examined. Skilled writers showed more fluent sentence-generation processes and were faster on lexical decision-making tasks. Fluent translating may help reduce the working-memory load…

Reviews research assessing the mother's contribution to children's early symbolic play competence, focusing on children ages 12-36 months. Finds that, as with other family members, mothers can encourage pretend play, but perhaps there is no special maternal role in the process. The quality and quantity of sophisticated play might be affected by…

Discusses what the author regards as important instructional advancements that have occurred over the past 30 years. The advances come from research on cognitive processing, on teachers whose classes made the highest achievement gain compared with the classes of other teachers, and on the teaching of cognitive strategies. (SM)

Discusses three experiments conducted with undergraduates to investigate important characteristics of mental models, their influence on task performance, and instructional strategies facilitating their formation. Results suggest that dynamic visual displays are more effective than static visual displays for teaching electronic troubleshooting…

Exposure of an experimental group of (n=33) college freshmen to teaching experiments dealing with stoichiometry problems based on the concept of limiting reagent showed greater improvement in posttests than the (n=39) student control group and observed that some students protect their core beliefs by ignoring conflicting data. (Author/MKR)

Studies the effects of visual elaborations on the cognitive processes of adult learners. Compares the effects of two types of visual elaboration strategies on immediate and delayed recall. Suggests that the incorporation of visual elaboration strategies produces a greater depth of processing, leading to better recall. (HB)

Elementary children (n=112) comprising average IQ, high IQ, dyslexic, and normal readers were administered measures of planning, attention-arousal, simultaneous and successive processing, phonemic segmentation, and nonverbal IQ. Cognitive tasks differentiating dyslexic from normal readers were the successive processing tasks and two tasks of…

In a study of language anxiety, a video camera was introduced at various points in a vocabulary learning task. Observations of first-year university students of French revealed significant increases in anxiety when the camera was introduced, along with concomitant deficits in vocabulary acquisition. Implications for remedial action are discussed.…

Interprets the outdoor-education learning process from viewpoint of pragmatist and cognitive conceptions of action, thinking, and knowledge as ways of structuring reality. Views outdoor education as socially organized, intentional activity aimed at student-environment interaction. Presents a model of outdoor learning involving goal-oriented…

Learning place geography is an important part of school geography. Reports on research findings addressing effective ways to teach place geography. Finds that research indicates significant differences between mnemonic and non-mnemonic treatment groups. (CFR)