Outlines the curriculum used in the nineteenth century in Canada for instructing elementary and secondary students in grammar and composition. Notes that modern teachers of English have continued to rely upon the aims of traditional pedagogy because other programs for writing instruction have not displaced older pedagogical beliefs and…

Describes 10 ideas for using recitation to strengthen reading comprehension, including: (1) what did I just say? (2) one thing I learned today; (3) student-generated test questions; (4) guess what will be on the test; (5) where is it located in the book? (6) teacher show and tell; (7) inquiry training; and (8) what's the big idea? (SKC)

Suggests ways in which students can elaborate upon activities for improving thinking skills to produce interesting and creative poetry. (JC)

Describes study of eighth grade students conducted to test the effectiveness of mnemonic techniques to recall attributes of minerals. Results indicate that mnemonic instruction, when accompanied by experimentor-provided keywords and mnemonic illustrations, produced superior recall on both immediate and delayed performance tests. (Author/LRW)

Examined patterns of variance for sex and grade level using the Nelson Reading Test, the Gates-MacGintie Reading Test, and the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales for first to eighth grade students referred for possible reading disabilities. Females outscored males significantly on all measures. Found differences among grades in regard to both…

A study evaluating a self-questioning summarization strategy analyzed the learning and retention of social studies materials by learning-disabled and underachieving seventh- and eighth-graders (N=8). All students learned and maintained the summarization strategy (sometimes with individualized modifications) which effectively increased retention.…

Shows how basic writing students' knowledge of how to use the computer to produce new, revised drafts of their essays in approximately an hour led to their productive use of word processing. (EL)

The need to change higher education to respond to the demands for continuing education is discussed, and the contributions of three groups to the facilitation of learning through learning-centered and problem-based curriculum design are examined. (MSE)

Nine cooperative learning techniques are described and classified according to the following categories: (1) type of subject matter; (2) nature of student interdependence; (3) interaction among cooperative groups; (4) method of grouping students; (5) basis for evaluation and reward; and (6) practical requirements for implementation. The academic…

Teaching techniques and small-group activities to give French language students the tools and skills to begin French literature study are discussed. Variety in course content, approach to texts, and techniques that promote active participation and enthusiasm help students acquire skills in literary analysis in a foreign language. (MSE)

Examines the hypothesis that there are preliminary stages in problem solving that are often neglected in teaching chemistry. Discusses correlations calculated between the student's ability to handle disembedding and cognitive restructuring tasks in the spatial domain and ability to solve chemistry problems. (TW)

Four experimental reading-treatment classes (n=94) and four control classes (n=100) wrote pre- and post-compositions which were evaluated for overall quality, syntactic density, T-unit length, productivity, and selected grammatical errors. Analysis of results found significant differences in reading skills but no differences in writing skills. The…

Presents a cross-linguistic investigation of the development of adult language and cue comprehension strategies in native speakers of English and Dutch. Adult level performance was achieved much earlier by young English speakers, reflecting the different syntactic and semantic comprehension cues in these two languages. (Author/DR)

Describes a program of demonstration experiments used to stimulate interest in chemistry, specifically aimed at increasing university chemistry enrollments. Discusses program goals, experiments, design criteria, and several caveats related to the development of such a program. (JM)

This article considers relatively neglected resources for the "bootstrapping" of cognitive growth, including chance plus selection, the affective boosting of relevant schemas, the operation of innate biases, and use of spare mental capacity. Implications for educational research are illustrated with reference to recent work on the…