Describes study of undergraduates at Pennsylvania State University that was conducted to investigate the instructional effectiveness of integrating rehearsal activity into visually complemented prose instruction. The effect of students' prior knowledge on learning is examined, and the effect of visual/verbal testing on information retrieval is…

Describes the effects of one community's concept of readiness for school on children in a kindergarten class. Of particular interest was the effect on children's understanding of their roles as students. The concept of readiness provided the framework for instructional activities and helped parents understand their children's roles as students.…

Contends that a challenge of teaching humanistic geography is to encourage students' responses to landscapes in ways that may be different from their previous experience. Argues that conventional practices may not be appropriate instructional procedure in humanistic geography and describes an alternative approach. (CFR)

The assumption that learners are the best judges of learning needs in computer-assisted instruction was tested by assigning 55 eleventh graders to learner-control or program-control conditions. Results indicate that efficiency of the learner-control strategy cannot be taken for granted and emphasize the importance of prior knowledge. (SLD)

Describes study of undergraduates that investigated learners' preconceptions of the difficulty of interactive video, instructional television, and television. The effects of actively or covertly responding to practice questions on perceived mental effort, recall, and inferences are examined, and correlations between lesson time and inference or…

The teaching behavior and instructional methods of elementary school teachers were investigated to determine whether teachers with positive attitudes toward mathematics employ different methods in mathematics instruction than those with negative attitudes. Overall, teachers with negative attitudes employed methods that fostered dependency whereas…

Reports results of a study investigating effects of social interaction on utilization of categorical concepts by upper and lower class children. Describes an experimental guessing game with individual subjects and pairs of subjects. Concludes that the experimental setup was beneficial for all subjects regardless of social background or kind of…

A theoretical perspective is presented for examining conceptual change in adolescence and the social context of learning. A case study of the Computer as Lab Partner project illustrates the following: (1) conceptual and cognitive changes in eighth graders' understanding of physical science concepts; (2) ways concepts are constructed; and (3)…

Rethinking the middle-level schooling process means reevaluating curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices; addressing organizational structure and attendant issues (grade configuration, grouping patterns, and the master schedule); and examining staffing issues, particularly the teacher's role. The proof of the process lies in student…

Reviews theories of anchored instruction and addresses issues related to learning, transfer, and assessment. Highlights include video-based macrocontexts; videodisc anchors versus computer-based simulations; cooperative learning; transfer outside the classroom; authenticity; visual anchors versus verbal anchors; situated cognition; and using…

Describes how instructional television and other existing videos can be repurposed to develop theory-based interactive videodiscs. Barriers to videodisc use in education are discussed; and two models are described that integrate curriculum theory and cognitive learning theory in the creation of social studies and foreign language curriculum…

Describes a study of undergraduates that investigated the use of hypermedia programs by learners classified as active, passive, or neutral. Two instructional approaches were compared, one utilizing instructional cues and one without instructional cues; and dependent variables including achievement, time on task, and frequency of viewing embedded…

Presents two kindergarten teachers' accounts of the use of the whole language approach to children's learning in class. Describes the reading of a children's book to a public kindergarten class and the subsequent literacy-related activities. (BB)

Describes the design and evaluation of a multimedia course on integrated circuit manufacturing that was developed at the University of California at Berkeley using IC-HIP (Integrated Circuit-Hypermedia in PICASSO), a hypermedia-based instructional system. Learning effects based on prior knowledge, methods of navigation, and other factors are…

Quality indicators of secondary schools were defined through ratings made by 754 school district superintendents in Texas. The top five indicators identified were attendance statistics; student attitude information; dropout rates; college placement; and computer literacy. Standardized testing criteria did not rate highly. (SLD)