This paper proposes a basic instructional design model that focuses on the planning of a learning environment so that students not only acquire factual knowledge, but also improve their cognitive abilities to use and extend their knowledge. The model describes the direct relationships between learning time, cognitive objectives, memory system…

This paper suggests techniques that teachers who prepare adult students for the General Educational Development (GED) tests can use with students who have learning disabilities. The first part of the paper presents a brief overview of symptoms exhibited by students who are learning disabled. Symptoms are classified under general behaviors,…

Evidence from video tapes of experts thinking aloud and using analogies in scientific problem solving is presented. Four processes appear to be important in using an analogy: (1) generating the analogy; (2) establishing confidence in the validity of the analogy relation; (3) understanding the analogous case; and (4) applying findings to the…

Understanding the literacy process and using the child as the informant will ensure a better learning experience. Two fundamental assumptions of language learning provide a base for understanding the literacy process. Firstly, the decisions a child makes while searching for meaning in a literacy event are the same ones made by an adult, involving…

This study investigated the reformulated theory of learned helplessness, centering around attributional style in the cause of cognitive and emotional deficits. Subjects (N=58) were undergraduate and graduate psychology students at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (N=30) who received…

Recent reports have shown that black high school and college students do not fare well on standardized tests, possibly because they have not been successful when dealing with materials requiring analytical thinking in the past. Several psychologists have found that mental imagery can be used to increase motivation to achieve idealized goals.…

By varying task conditions and constraints on subjects, this study attempted to extend and refine a developmental theory of partitioning as a foundational process undergirding children's construction of a rational number. Subjects were 31 preponderantly higher-grade pupils enrolled at an elementary school in Nova Scotia, Canada. Two tasks were…

Despite the relevance of moral development to professional education, little research has been done to examine the application of moral development theory. To relate Analytic Interactive Style to post-formal operational thinking or "unitary operations thinking," to test the relationship between level of moral development and Analytic…

The work of English cybernetician Gordon Pask on learning styles and strategies is presented. An attempt is made to describe the basic ideas of Conversation Theory, Pask's general theory of cognition. The learning strategies "holism" and "serialism," and the more general learning styles "comprehension learning" and…

The Trucking Retention and Academic Integration by Learning Style (TRAILS) research project at St. Louis University, which is designed to incorporate information on learning style in ongoing enrollment research and improve campus retention, is described. Learning style and the Tinto Model of student attrition are discussed, along with the…

This paper first presents an overview of studies which categorized types of learning styles, teaching models, and critical thinking modes. In models of teaching, four families of human orientation to learning are identified: information processing, personal, social, and behavioral systems. Learning styles are identified as: concrete/sequential;…

To look at the relationship of personality type to differences in reading behavior among accomplished readers, a study analyzed a reading assignment for reading strategies used. Subjects, 27 college seniors majoring in secondary education, were given the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, and were then given a reading journal activity, in…

In previous research students' reactions to examinations from a cognitive-process perspective have been based on a singular study of university college students. The purpose of this study was to describe and predict students' reactions to a community college mid-term examination, based on a cognitively-oriented, process-centered theory of stress…

This research examined the learning style factor of field dependence/independence and the problem solving strategies of Hmong male refugee students 17 years old and older who were attending or planning to attend post secondary education institutions in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The research was conducted from July 1986 to July 1987 to test two…

One of the important cognitive strategies individuals use when learning is to organize many bits of information into integrated patterns called chunks. To investigate the process of chunking spatial information, 32 college students integrated two cognitive maps either before or after an interfering task. The combined spatial layout formed either a…