Japanese distance education has been slow to utilize the Internet, and mainly depends on the mail system and, to a lesser extent, television broadcasting as its mode of delivery. Since 2001, however, regulations have been relaxed to allow students to complete all course requirements for a university degree via online distance learning. This…

This book provides classroom-tested methods for engaging struggling middle grade readers--even those who appear to have given up--and fostering their success. The emphasis is on constructing respectful, encouraging learning environments that incorporate students' diverse literacies, cultural interests, and prior knowledge and skills into…

As part of the activities at the Research Institute in Education of Learning Disabled Children, work was carried out with a group of about 30 children (grades 4 through 6) disabled in the comprehension of written language. Most of these children, when reading, went beyond using prior knowledge to provide schemata and interpretations; they…

Viewed as discourse, official forms exhibit identifiable text characteristics and elicit strategies for comprehension that take into account these characteristics, as well as context and the user's prior knowledge about the world. However, forms also have unique characteristics that require processes and strategies which differ in systematic ways…

This study examined the effects of low- and high-prior knowledge and peer and teacher audiences on high school students' writing. Forty high school juniors and 40 seniors wrote on both low-prior knowledge and high-prior knowledge topics, half writing for their peers, and half for their teachers. Results are presented. (Author/MT)

Describes a procedure called Generating Reciprocal Inferences Procedure (GRIP), which teaches inferential comprehension using direct or explicit instruction, a generative process, and reciprocal questioning. (RS)

Strategies were examined for adapting the context of mathematical materials to student interests. Two groups were studied using four context variations. Implications for increasing students' confidence and proficiency in solving word problems is discussed. (Author/MT)

Reports results of a study of 30 graduates who received credit for learning from life experience. The study (1) gathered data about the experience of persons preparing, presenting, and receiving credit for learning from life experience and (2) assessed the relationship to the predominant or preferred learning styles of three other factors in these…

Every year, students encounter the same topics. While they may successfully learn the topics each year, there is not enough attention to the process of learning how to learn. Without knowing how to learn, students will find it difficult to transfer what they have learned to new but similar learning tasks. This fastback identifies the areas that…

This study examined the role of different scaffolding instructional interventions in facilitating students' shift to more sophisticated mental models as indicated by both performance and process data. Undergraduate students (n=51) were randomly assigned to use of one of three scaffolding conditions (adaptive scaffolding (AS), fixed scaffolding…

This article examines approaches which are used to validate experiential competencies in technical education. The two most common approaches to credentialization are discussed. The importance of nonacademic experiences in credentialing is examined, and several assessment models are described. (CT)

Provides suggestions for activating prior knowledge, getting children to be aware when their comprehension is lagging, and tying it all together at the end. (FL)

Discusses the results of a study that examined the relationship between comprehension ability and prior knowledge in children's recall of structurally equivalent text. (AEA)

Describes two experiments testing reports that subjects presented with outcome feedback are unable to remember their original knowledge state. Claims that while the first experiment confirmed the reports, the second indicated that feedback information is not automatically assimilated, and that prior knowledge state can be recalled when the…

Investigates effects of prior knowledge on learning from high- and low-coherence history texts. Examines participants' comprehension in two experiments. Finds high-knowledge readers performed better on open-ended questions after reading low-coherence text. Indicates that low-coherence text requires more inference processes--these inferences are…