Traditional education, employing lectures or telecommunicative instruction methods, has been very effective in providing topical facts. However, the development of student skills and thinking ability require higher levels of instruction and more opportunity to practice and apply acquired knowledge. As students progress through a particular…

Do students learn more deeply from a passage when they attempt to construct their own graphic organizers (i.e., learning by doing) than when graphic organizers are provided (i.e., learning by viewing)? In 3 experiments, learners were tested on retention and transfer after reading a passage with author-provided graphic organizers or when asked to…

As a consequence of findings and theses on the change in demand for qualifications, the debates on lifelong learning and a large number of articles on the theory of didactics, since the mid-1980s the concept has become established that traditional methods of teaching and learning in vocational education are dysfunctional and should be replaced or…

In 1996, a new curricular framework for vocational education in schools called "Lernfelder" (learning arenas) was implemented in Germany. In the concept of learning arenas learning situations in schools have to be related to work activity in a particular occupation. For this reason work process orientation currently plays a significant…

The effects of distributed study, self-pacing, a criterion of mastery, and individualized testing were examined by assigning 422 students in an introductory psychology course to one of four different teaching/learning systems. The first encompassed a traditional lecture/discussion group format. The second employed the personalized system of…

Naval researchers studied the effects of delay in the presentatio of visual information on pilot performance. Simulated carrier landing tasks were performed by subjects using a visual display generated by a computer. In one part of the experiment pilots were asked to "fly" carrier approaches with and without a 0.1 second delay in the…

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of varying pictorial detail and presentation strategy on learners of varying grade levels in a visually transmitted concept formation task. Specifically, line drawings containing only relevant details and halftones containing relevant and irrelevant detail were presented successively and…

Contradicts Frank F. Kuo's conclusion that a slide-tape program is superior to the lecture tour by showing that better immediate recall of bibliographic instruction is not necessarily a result of such a program. The disparity between the two studies indicates the need for further research. (Author/JD)

Outlines two competing hypotheses concerning the nature of inter-modal sensory development. Research on auditory-visual coordination in young human infants is reviewed. It is concluded that the data support the notion of ontogenetic development being a process of intergration between sensory systems that are initially relatively independent.…

Presents a model for course development which utilizes a behavioral approach to instruction within the context of instructional systems design (ISD). An overview of the ISD process is given, and an introductory college psychology course is described which was prepared by modifying Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). (LRW)

Three sets of audiovisual lessons were presented on either a prototype videodisc player or with film/audiocassette. Both groups of trained soldiers performed significantly better than a control group. On two of the lessons, no difference was found between presentation modes--the third favored film/audiocassette. (Author/JEG)

Investigated the acceptance of computerized assessment, particularly compared to conventional paper-and-pencil techniques, in seriously impaired psychiatric inpatients. Describes the development of a self-rating questionnaire (OPQ, Operation and Preference Questionnaire) and reports results that showed computerized assessment was convincingly…

Describes research that has investigated and compared students in face-to-face classes, Web-based classes, and hybrid courses which combine both methods. Presents a chart that shows comparative advantages of face to face versus virtual classes, and discusses results that show hybrid courses have the highest success rate. (LRW)

Public schools face raised performance expectations on group-administered achievement tests. In response, educators have implemented various preparation strategies to ready students. However, the research community largely ignores the impact of setting on test performance. This randomized field trial assesses whether or not there were significant…