This study was conducted in order to explore patterns of teachers' thinking and learning as they learn a new instructional approach. The theoretical framework is based on a model in which teachers: learn and implement a new practice; witness cognitive and attitudinal changes in students' learning outcomes; change their own beliefs and attitudes;…

This training manual provides information for the instructors (tutors) of the Shippensburg University Learning Assistance Center (LAC). It discusses the need for tutoring, what the tutoring program is about, and who should be encouraged to attend tutoring sessions. Also, through chapters written by educators with experience in the tutoring…

The use of reflective leadership among school principals is examined in this paper to develop a framework for the process of reflective decision making, with a focus on administrators'"strategic sense." Field notes and interviews with principals and their teachers were used to identify leadership roles and principals' perceptions of those roles.…

Of all cognitive styles, field dependence/independence (FD/I) is by far the most researched and has the greatest application potential to educational problems. Briefly stated, the FD/I dimension refers to people's ability to experience and interpret their environment in terms of a global versus analytic continuum. Field dependents are likely to…

To determine whether or not cognitive tempo influences visual cue preferences in early readers, 65 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade children were tested on the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test and a cue selection nonsense trigram test. It was hypothesized that significant differences would be found in cue selection strategies of…

Mentally retarded persons in sheltered workshops in West Virginia were studied in order to determine their learning styles and how these learning styles related to the populations studied by Witkin and others. (Witkin classified learning styles as either field independent--i.e. task oriented--or field-dependent--i.e., oriented to the social…

The assumption that phonological processes support comprehension guided two experiments in manipulating the similarity of the consonant code both within silently read sentences and between these sentences and concurrently vocalized phrases. The first experiment examined whether tongue-twisters would take longer to read than phonetically…

This study investigated changes in intellectual orientations of 4,124 California high school students who completed the Omnibus Personality Inventory. The three dependent measures of intellectual orientations were Autonomy (which measures independence of thought and judgment), Theoretical Orientation (which reflects an interest in science,…

Reasons why there are few incentives for test publishers to make significant innovations in what is tested or how it is tested are given. A brief discussion of research on growth spurts in the brain, hemispheric differences, and other neurological phenomena is followed by a discussion of some conclusions drawn from this work. While skepticism is…

Although successful reading comprehension is described as the interaction of text-based processes and processes related to the reader's existing background knowledge or schemata, under different conditions readers show different patterns of text-based versus knowledge-based processing. Recent research suggests that students of English as a second…

Microcomputer versions of three commonly used cognitive style measurement instruments are described and demonstrated: the Leveling-Sharpening House Test (LSHT) (Santostefano, 1964); Lowenfeld's Successive Impressions Test I (SIT-I) (1945); and the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) (Witkin, Oltman, Ruskin, and Karp, 1971). At present, many…

The practicum was designed to establish a staff development program to help teachers to systematically employ whole-brain and responsive instructional approaches with "at risk" students and to provide the theoretical/conceptual, practical, and experiential knowledge base necessary for program development incorporating cognitive styles.…

Research on learning styles of Mexican Americans has focused on the cognitive processes and cultural variables affecting cognitive style rather than on perceptual learning style. This study is the first attempt in the assessment of seven perceptual learning style orientations among an exclusive Mexican American population. Using the Multi-Modal…

While teachers are becoming increasingly aware of different learning styles, they have generally rejected the practical use of learning styles in the classroom. This bulletin summarizes theories and findings on learning styles, demonstrates their use in exceptional and regular classrooms, and offers recommendations for those who want to use the…

This book of readings lays the foundation for the introduction of a broad multicultural perspective in education. "Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education" (J. S. Wurzel) outlines the multicultural process. Part 1, "Human Condition Themes," comprises the following sections: (1) "Ethnocentrism," including "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" (R.…