The traditional system of direct instruction focuses on students' acquiring a body of knowledge and developing related skills. It has been recognized for some time now that direct instruction needs to be combined with more humanistic methods of education, which invite students to be more actively involved in the learning process and are focused on…

An alternative view of learning and an alternative view of research on learning are described in this paper. Learning is seen as a change in the conception of some aspect of reality and it is argued that learning has to be described in terms of its content. This line of research is intended to represent the learner's perspective and the…

A cognitive processing model was adopted by the task force developing the National Association of Secondary School Principals' (NASSP) Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP contains 23 independent scales representing four higher order factors: cognitive skills; perceptual responses; study preferences; and instructional preferences. The subscales…

Following a brief discussion of the lack of definition and cohesion in the social studies and the curriculum, the paper argues that the reflective inquiry rationale has had the most significant influence of all the alternative rationales for the field and its curriculum. The paper presents its case in four basic sections. The first section,…

Four reasoning skills help explain the processes that students need to use in completing various study skills exercises: (1) classification--the process that a student uses to name a body of information or to associate a bit of information with a larger chunk of information; (2) sequencing--the process by which a student organizes information into…

Focusing on primary school children, a study investigated whether children can profit from the use of explanatory analogies to acquire information from expository text. Subjects, 24 kindergarteners and 34 second graders in a midwestern town, listened to 4 texts describing relatively unfamiliar topics with or without explanatory analogies. The…

Metacognitive strategy instruction was used to teach two deaf children (ages 11 and 12) with differing American Sign Language and English language skills to summarize stories in writing. The instructional program used a knowledge of text structure--specifically story structure--to improve literacy skills by enhancing the children's ability to…

In two experiments, differences were investigated between youths (mean age 13 years) and comparison groups with respect to (1) performance on paired-associate tasks involving meaningful and nonmeaningful words, (2) reported use of spontaneously produced learning strategies, and (3) degree to which learning strategies facilitated recall. Under…

The paper describes a learning skills program designed to serve college students whose learning styles are different from the norm and whose skill levels vary widely. Development phases of the program featured a task force approach to needs assessment, planning, initial pilot testing, and ongoing faculty development. Difficulties encountered in…

The introductory paragraph of this paper briefly summarizes panel presentations by three scholars at The John Dewey Society Meeting (February 28, 1985) on the subject of teaching the philosophy of John Dewey. The approaches of Maxine Greene, Joe L. Green, and Richard Pratte are discussed. Following this, the author discusses several approaches to…

As a preface to the papers that comprise the journal, this editorial briefly discusses the progress of Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE). Summarizes the topics of the papers presented as relating to the theoretical structure of DBAE, DBAE lesson structure, instruction in DBAE, and studies of existing art instruction programs. Introduces the…

Examines children's need to develop the following reading skills for application to the area of science: reading formulas, technical science vocabulary, following directions in a lab manual, interpreting diagrams and drawings, and organizing facts into a hypothesis. (JK)

Research regarding the characteristics and applications of "errorless" learning methods (stimulus shaping, stimulus fading, and superimposition) indicates that such methods provide a means of designing instruction and materials to facilitate the acquisition of skills, with minimal or no errors, by "difficult to teach" students.…

Reviews research on effects of interventions aimed at maintaining or improving memory function among older adults including slowing pace of learning, organizing learning materials, training in use of imagery, mnemonics, and supportive environments. Explicates the ways in which findings of laboratory research can be incorporated into educational…

This article reports on findings from two studies in which computer-assisted instruction in study skills was used with high school students. (DF)