Aiming to show that improved learning can take place when children use self-monitoring and evaluation skills, this study represents a relatively new approach toward helping children "learn to learn." Among 60 second grade students, two questions were explored: (1) Is it possible that with proper training young children who ordinarily do…

The purpose of this paper is to promote a problematic based upon the hypothesis of match and mismatch between teaching strategies and learning styles. Evidence is examined that supports the proposition that match and mismatch may be vital factors in evaluating teaching effectiveness. Classical experiments are extraneous to the debate because the…

Three types of processes occur in language learning, each intricately connected with the others. Social processes are the steps by which learners and target language speakers create a social situation in which target language communication is possible and desired. Linguistic processes are the ways in which assumptions held by target language…

This report uses mental model theory to create a taxonomy of picture functions in order to relate these functions to learning theories. A rough outline of picture functions is presented, consisting of a retrieval function, a focus function, a construction function, and a supplantation function. It is suggested that this taxonomy could be helpful…

Only eight recent studies clearly fit the parameters of qualitative research on self-directed learning. Four of the studies appear to fit the more traditional notion of what the qualitative paradigm is all about, in that they are exploratory in nature. The remaining four studies focus more on the expansion of earlier ideas that had been generated…

This review of the current status of the human information processing model presents the Stahl Perceptual Information Processing and Operations Model (SPInPrOM) as a model of how thinking, memory, and the processing of information take place within the individual learner. A related system, the Domain of Cognition, is presented as an alternative to…

The two goals of this investigation were to (1) examine the comprehension monitoring strategies adults employ when trying to understand procedural instructions and (2) determine how comprehension may be affected by varying such instructions. Sixty-eight college students, using instructions that consisted of either text alone, illustrations alone,…

The primary role of education is the production of positive changes in the learner. Teachers make decisions regarding effective experiences conducive to helping students change their behaviors. Evaluation provides evidence to help teachers and students attain desired goals of instruction and the objectives of education. Four types of evaluation…

This paper examines the theories of Herman T. Epstein, who has suggested that there may be a correlation between Piaget's stages of intellectual development and the brain growth stages. Epstein's research has indicated that the human brain grows in spurts rather than in simple linear increments across time. Of special significance to educators is…

A three-part study compared similarity-based learning (in which concepts are formed based on similarity among multiple examples) and explanation-based learning (in which general schema are acquired from a single example) in schema acquisition. Subjects, 16 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology courses at the University of Illinois and…

This paper examines the role of learner motivation--elements that arouse, sustain, and direct behavior--as the pivotal factor in education, and urges researchers to consider the motivational state of the individual learner in interaction with the instructional method. It is emphasized that a thorough understanding of the learner's personality, as…

Advanced knowledge acquisition in a subject area is different in many important ways from introductory learning (and from expertise). In this paper some of the special characteristics of advanced learning of complex conceptual material are discussed. The paper notes that these characteristics are often at odds with the goals and tactics of…

This study sought to determine if 17 affective variables on the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory Form S-A would discriminate among teaching areas of Mississippi public school teachers. The learning style inventory was administered to 86 teachers grouped into four teaching areas: elementary, secondary, special education, and others (library…

Like any apparently novel approach to the basic epistemological problems of "knowledge," the constructivist ideas that have spread in the last 20 years continue to generate a host of negative as well as a few positive reactions. This document focuses on some aspects of Radical Constructivism, as distinct from "trivial"…

A study analyzed three episodes of self-repetition in a 1-year-old's utterances and examined the child's use of self-repetition for exploiting and elaborating on his phonological system in the context of discourse. The subject was a first-born monolingual child in the Stanford Child Phonology project. The analysis provides clues about how the…