The question of what determines the appropriate use of self-directed learning (SDL) as opposed to teacher-directed learning (TDL) for midcareer professionals was examined through a review of the literature on SDL, SDL in professional development, and through interviews with 12 midcareer adults in a wide variety of professions. In general, the…

This paper describes a technique for English-as-a-Second-Language teaching that has students and teachers sharing personal narratives, developed using ethnographic research techniques, as a classroom exercise. The technique, used in a higher education institution in Japan, is presented as a work-in-progress to those who are interested in…

This paper presents a model that was developed for the categorization and evaluation of stand-alone interactive media and that now is used to contribute to a more detailed and specific educational discussion of Internet use. The paper begins with a review of the foundations on which the model is built, including software as subject, tool, or…

New technologies such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have led to recent discoveries about how the brain works and how people learn. The interactive capabilities of World Wide Web-based instructional strategies can be employed to better match how we teach with how we know students learn. This paper…

Prior research on learning has been linked to instruction by the derivation of general principles of instructional design from learning theories. However, such design principles are often difficult to apply to particular instructional issues. A new method for relating research on learning to instructional design is proposed: Different ways of…

The effects of analogical and schematic illustrations on the comprehension and retention of expository prose were compared. The population was 191 eighth-grade students at Mahomet Junior High School, Illinois; 134 students' scores were used. Subjects were assigned to two groups through the random distribution of treatment booklets that included a…

This paper presents a framework utilized in two research projects for mathematics teacher learning based on what is understood about students' mathematics learning. The framework is grounded in a social constuctivist perspective and builds on Karplus' Learning Cycle. A framework for mathematics education identifies a learning cycle that progresses…

The psychological mechanisms that underlie human question asking and answering during comprehension and complex learning were studied. The transcripts of 83 tutoring sessions on research methods for college students and 22 algebra tutoring sessions for seventh graders were collected and analyzed. It was estimated that student questions were about…

This yearbook is the seventh for the Mathematics Education Research in Finland series and contains ten articles presented at the decennial jubilee colloquium. The first three articles discuss Constructivism both in general and with regard to mathematics education. Analysis is directed to the origins of constructivism, to the learning of…

Emerging theories suggest that learning is contingent on cognitive development, which is, in turn, influenced by conative and ecological factors. These three domains--cognitive, conative, and ecological--all make important contributions to understanding student achievement. Their collective influences should be understood when formulating an…

This collection of eight essays examines the current and future status of early childhood education and care (educare), focusing on Europe but also addressing issues applicable to the wider world. The essays are: (1) "Early Childhood Intervention: An Overview of Practice North and South" (John Bennett); (2) "Developing the Child's…

External representations have a great impact on what and how students learn. One key manner in which environments can operate upon novices' knowledge is through helping them ground their problem solving in an understanding of the situation embodied by the problem. In this paper, students' difficulties in microeconomics problem solving were…

The inability of schools to promote students' thinking is currently the subject of a great deal of attention. Teachers' point of view with regard to teaching thinking has been missing in this attention. This study was undertaken to investigate teachers' attitudes toward teaching thinking. A questionnaire was distributed to 600 public elementary…

Calls for the unification of mathematics education research have been made from many pedagogic perspectives, particularly with respect to the need for raising dynamic models that bridge the learning-teaching gap and that portray the ways that the meanings of specific mathematical procedures and concepts are constructed within individual…

The use and analysis of student generated propositions linking two scientific concepts (photosynthesis and respiration) were examined before and after the study of photosynthesis. A proposition-generating task (PGT) was used as a diagnostic tool to indicate student misconceptions and partial understandings. Focus was on determining: how the nature…