Learning styles of elementary education majors in biology (n=83) were compared to learning styles of students (n=673) in a general nonmajors biology course. Some recommendations made were for incorporation of student-led demonstrations and presentations, instruction with personal involvement, and audiovisuals. Discusses methods of incorporating an…

Explains three learning theories (i.e., behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism) and examines how each can be used for planning and conducting instructional design activities. Historical foundations are discussed, and comparisons are made concerning how learning occurs, the role of memory, how transfer occurs, and types of learning. (Contains…

Answers questions concerning outcome-based education (OBE), including underlying beliefs, characteristics, reasons to change to OBE, needs it will fulfill, how to begin OBE, and arguments in opposition. Cites dramatic improvement in students' test scores in Connecticut, Utah, and New York school districts after the implementation of OBE. (MLF)

Describes a study at the French department of the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) that was conducted to investigate students' reactions to feedback during computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Results of transaction log analysis, interviews, and think-aloud protocols are analyzed to study students' strategies when working with CALL.…

Submits that children recognize their first words in a different way than they later decode. Compares the hypothesis that sight words are recognized as wholes to the hypothesis that sight words are recognized as parts. Finds support for the idea that first words are recognized by "selective association." (BS)

Nominal-level analysis of 4 primary learning styles (doing, thinking, watching, and feeling) of 292 subjects (mostly college students) from the Learning Styles Inventory demonstrated their discriminant/convergent validity but not the validity of the learning-style types suggested by D. A. Kolb (1976) (accommodator, diverger, converger, and…

Describes research and evaluation on the Information Mapping method of structured analysis and writing of training and reference documents to illustrate how a flaw in research design can cause "little or no effect" results. Information retrieval experiments, learning experiments, and field tests are examined for problems, including size…

A study of native English-speaking Pennsylvania Germans' attempts to learn the German that their families no longer regularly used found that learning strategies were remarkably free of reliance on English rules. Speakers relied on what they learned and sought analogies within Pennsylvania German, resorting to English only when other strategies…

Reports on a study that investigated metacognitive strategy use by a pair of students working with a computer database. Strategies are inferred from analysis of the discourse, and features of a metacognitive environment are discussed. (13 references) (GLR)

The effectiveness of a mnemonic study strategy, the keyword method, was applied with 10 learning-disabled middle school students studying a science chapter on rocks and minerals. Posttests after the four-day implementation indicated mixed results with some content acquisition but a need for further instruction in strategy utilization. (DB)

Examined study time and recall on the part of learning-disabled and nondisabled children of five ages. Children performed a task requiring recall of digits that were presented at the child's own rate. Recall and study time increased with age and were higher in nondisabled children. (SH)

The teaching of negative numbers poses problems at the school level. A historical account of the intellectual difficulties in the evolution of negative numbers and a method of viewing negative numbers as an extension of the number system to help overcome these difficulties are presented. (MDH)

As experiences of two first graders show, learning occurs in split-second initiatives that children take with others as they try to attend, engage, interact, communicate, and reason. Before children can learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, they must know how to learn. Children cannot learn two-way communication with gestures, words, or symbols…

Three gifted and three learning-disabled gifted students (ages 13-15) viewed themselves on videotape solving mathematical problems and responded to questions pertaining to their problem-solving strategies. The non-learning-disabled students applied substantially more cognitive and metacognitive knowledge to the problem-solving task. (Author/DB)

Research on students' experiences in higher education has evolved from focusing on deep and surface approaches to learning to study of educational choices and individual preferences or behavior patterns in tackling a learning task. Recently, interest has turned to what factors in the learning environment influence the approaches students adopt.…