Separates the effects of prior knowledge and topic interest on second language reading comprehension. English-as-a-Second-Language students in an English for academic purposes program read passages and took multiple-choice comprehension tests on topics for which they had all four possible combinations of high and low topic interest and high and…

Examines how cultural schemata influence American and Palauan students' reported strategies and their reading comprehension. Finds that students predominantly use processing strategies categorized under awareness development and intrasentential ties establishment for culturally unfamiliar passages. Finds that students use intersentential ties and…

Investigates whether thematic organizers can facilitate generalizability of ideas from one context to another for low ability readers enrolled in a college developmental studies program. Finds that the thematic strategy facilitated transfer of learning. (RS)

Traces the history of and rationale for awarding college credit for experiential learning in order to avoid duplicating educational experiences, accommodate preferred learning styles, respond to social changes, and promote lifelong learning. Reviews methods of assessing and documenting prior learning. Considers implications for practice. (DMM)

Investigated the effects of units using computers and computer-administered tests. The greatest benefit was attained by those using the units and attending lectures. Students using both the units and tests did not perform as well as the lecture only group. Explores the correlation between high school grades and the methods. (Author/YP)

Maintains that full-day kindergarten programs can derive at least part of their curriculum from the diverse gifts of social and cultural knowledge that children bring to the classroom. Includes a description of a kindergarten class that explored the topic of grandparents. (BB)

Discusses a survey conducted to understand the gender imbalance and high level of female attrition in computer science. Suggests that factors influencing the rate of attrition are lack of previous experience with computers, gender-biased attitudes and behavior, interactions with other computer science students, and the nature of computer science…

Discusses the relationship between prior computer experiences and the linear or nonlinear steps students choose when working with hypermedia environments and time spent on task (based on a study of graduate students). Experience with content-area software, word processing, databases, spreadsheets, programming, hypermedia, and authoring are…

Measured effects of age, prior opinions, and peer interaction on first, third, and sixth graders and college students as they expressed their opinion on a topic while alone (pretest), while with a peer (test), and again while alone (posttest). Found that age affected the number, type, and elaboration level of pretest reasons for holding a given…

Argues that the syntactic and mental model accounts of the suppression effect in deductive reasoning are inadequate. Proposes a relative salience model. Describes a test of predictions from this model in a suppression model, which obtained evidence of convergent validity for the salience construct. Results could not be reconciled with either the…

The effects of a visual advance organizer on a biology concept learning task among fifth graders (n=48) was investigated. After exposure to the advance organizer, three levels of learning outcomes-knowledge, comprehension, and application-were evaluated. Findings of the study are discussed in terms of the assimilation theory, aptitude-treatment…

Decoding, working memory, and domain-specific prior knowledge were studied as predictors of comprehension for 48 university undergraduate students after rewriting notes, rereading notes, or rereading a text. Working memory was most important for comprehension of text-implicit information, whereas knowledge was relatively more important for…

Effects of knowledge maps, outlines, or lists of key terms on recall by 74 undergraduates (29 males and 45 females) of 2 biology lectures were compared. The hypothesized advantage of maps over outlines or lists was not found generally, but it was found for students low in prior knowledge. (SLD)

The relationship among beliefs based on personal history that preservice teachers bring to their study of teaching and principles of reading, writing, and discussing to learn advocated by one professor was studied for nine college students. Personal histories of preservice teachers function as prior knowledge of good teaching. (SLD)

Discusses the importance of experience and experiential learning in distance education. Models of prior knowledge and experiential learning are discussed, the measurement of experiential learning is described, a model of the portfolio assessment method is explained, and implications for Dutch higher education and the Open University are suggested.…