Offers a five-step direct-instruction strategy for teaching main idea comprehension. (MG)

Presents 10 models providing a solid foundation for designing curricula that help students make valuable connections while learning. Beginning with exploration within single disciplines (the fragmented, connected, and nested models), and continuing with models integrating across several disciplines, the continuum ends with models operating within…

Examines whether vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language by inferring the meaning of a word from its context makes an important contribution toward the retention of the word in question so long as the meaning is correctly guessed. (49 references) (GLR)

Examines Heinrich Schliemann's method of acquiring a second language primarily by means of conscious learning. It is revealed that Schliemann probably obtained a great deal of comprehensible input in English. (nine references) (GLR)

Introduces the topic of strategies education, summarizing the contributions to this special issue on strategies education. Emphasizes the importance of collaborations between researchers and practitioners to ensure that strategies education programs are practical and implementable. (MDM)

Three teachers who had used reciprocal teaching for at least a year were observed and interviewed as part of an effort to develop a model of reciprocal teaching that would work well in classrooms. These teachers used conventional reciprocal teaching as a starting point for creating instruction they believed to be more powerful and effective than…

Describes how a North Carolina elementary school altered teaching methods to suit the varied learning styles of the students based on the results of a learning styles inventory. Discusses changes made based on students' perceptual preferences, time of day preferences, environmental preferences, and sociological preferences. Notes that discipline…

Offers portraits of the various approaches to learning of 3 students who quit school during their junior high years and (at 16 years of age) had returned to school. (SR)

Two studies examined young children's knowledge of letters' sounds and names and preschoolers' ability to learn various sound-letter mappings. Findings indicated that an important determinant of letter-sound knowledge is whether the sound occurs in the name of the letter, and its location. Children used knowledge of letters' names when learning…

Presents an analysis of young students' development of multiplication and division concepts based on a multimodal Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) model. Describes a SOLO developmental model for multiplication and division in terms of developing structure and associated counting and calculation strategies. Contains 48 references.…

Reports on an experiment that trained children in memorization by offering explicit feedback emphasizing relationships between strategy use and recall. Finds that the understanding of feedback predicts strategy maintenance if subjects can re-elaborate this information, and prior metacognitive knowledge helps determine the ability to integrate new…

Presents design components to attain high standards in distance education, including defining goals, explaining the learning strategy, describing the learning activity, setting deadlines and due dates, explaining the use of media, and establishing personal-communication protocol. (LRW)

Presents an experimental study on students' strategies and association judgments when faced with comparison of a numerical variable in two different samples. Classifies the strategies from a mathematical standpoint to identify theorems in action and two types of misconceptions about association. Contains 21 references. (Author/ASK)

Presents an overview of how a number of cognitive factors are involved in solving quantitative problems by secondary-school students categorized as skilled and less-skilled. Gives illustrations for the solving of basic and complex composite problems in chemistry. Suggests directions for enhancing instruction in problem solving based in this…

Illustrates how knowledge of the ways children develop understandings of science subjects can be used to improve instruction. Probes students' problems in understanding excretion. Suggests that understanding can be promoted through strategies that build on students' existing knowledge, elicit conceptual development, and establishes meaningful…