Two studies were performed to investigate the effects of material and task variations in the acquisition of cognitive learning strategies. Groups of undergraduate students were taught to use mental imagery, meaningful elaboration, and grouping. The type of training task or the order of training and test materials differed for each of the…

Several concepts detailed in Gestalt psychology/therapy appear to have a close relationship with many concepts being applied in bilingual education. The primary contribution of Gestalt psychology to learning theory in the U.S. is an emphasis on perception and reintegration of relationships within an organized whole. To the teacher this means that…

The purpose of this document is to survey at least some of the important research literature on solving linear equations in order to identify information that might suggest ways to improve teaching effectiveness. The studies that are examined employ a wide range of research techniques, are based often on quite different perspectives, and span over…

The two main objectives of the present study were to get a better understanding of sixth-graders' solution processes with respect to arithmetic word problems and to investigate the possibility of improving children's problem-solving ability through instruction. As background for the study, a hypothetical model of the problem-solving process was…

This paper reviews recent research to determine why children encounter problems understanding what they read. Four points are discussed as especially relevant to children's problems in reading comprehension: (1) reading differs from early language experiences, and an analysis of these differences can indicate likely sources of reading difficulty;…

This paper, intended to show some misgivings about the potential of the Piagetian research orientation for improving science education practice, was presented at the 1978 meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). The research orientation discussed is that derived from the developmental theory of Jean Piaget. The…

This document reports data from a study designed to identify student behaviors related to academic success and involving 303 students enrolled in natural science classes at Kansas State University. Results of student responses to the Inventory of Study Practices are presented and implications for students, advisors, and teachers are identified.…

In this report, three theories of transitive inference are compared as they apply to the solution of linear syllogisms: a spatial theory, a linguistic theory, and a new mixed linguistic-spatial theory. Each theory is expressed in terms of an information-processing (flow chart) model and a mathematical model that quantifies the…

Student team techniques, involving two conceptually distinct components--a cooperative reward structure, in which students are evaluated and rewarded based on the performance of the group as a whole, and a cooperative task structure, in which students are encouraged to peer tutor--have had positive effects compared to control methods on academic…

Current teacher education is criticized, and suggestions are made for improvement. It is pointed out that an essential factor is missing from teacher education curriculum. This factor is the systematic translation of what is now known about human learning into teacher and learner behavior in the classroom. While the results of abundant research in…

Three scholarly efforts, in addition to kindergarten through grade 12 research, are necessary before research and development is likely to improve teacher education. First, systematic development efforts must be undertaken to reexamine and translate elementary-secondary research findings into articulate sets of curricula for teachers. Second,…

Case studies were conducted to assess the personal learning styles and behaviors of elementary school children to provide teachers the opportunity of using prescribed teaching techniques to match students' styles. Six groups of behaviors were identified: (1) students demonstrate little internal control and are likely to act out and create…

Sixteen kindergarten children were instructed in grapheme-phoneme correspondences according to two methods that were identical except that in one method the children were instructed individually and in the other the children received group instruction. The number of learning trials given to each child was the same in both situations. However, in…

In this pilot study, the effect of experimenter cuing on recall and organization of response was analyzed and compared between subjects identified as learning disabled with an isolated memory impairment (LDMI), learning disabled without an isolated memory impairment (LDO), and normal controls (N). Six subjects were selected for each group after…

This report documents a series of studies on how undergraduate students learn from and reason with textual information. The studies described were undertaken to produce models that could serve as the basis for designing computer systems capable of structuring and presenting text material in optimal formats. Divided into sections, the report…