Instructional designers need to understand the internal processes of learning, identify learners' cognitive difficulties with those processes, and create strategies to help learners overcome those difficulties. Generative learning theory, one conception of human learning about cognitive functioning and process, emphasizes that meaningful learning…

This Practice Guide is the third in a series of Institute of Education Sciences (IES) guides in education. Much of teaching is about helping students master new knowledge and skills and then helping students not to forget what they have learned. The recommendations in this practice guide are intended to provide teachers with specific strategies…

An increasing number of students are choosing online education programs to complete their higher education. Research concludes that student satisfaction and retention are related to program completion. Furthermore, research indicates that physical distance alone does not influence student satisfaction and retention. In this study, we examined…

The environment is a ready-made subject in writing classrooms, and teachers at all levels are encouraging students to write about nature and environmental issues. Environmental issues provide a equitable meeting place for students from a variety of different backgrounds, interests, and ideologies. There are also many pedagogical advantages to…

Using interviews of students prior to and during their retained year and of their teachers, this study examined 22 students retained under Chicago's Ending Social Promotion policy. It focused on the "intervention" of retention, including how teachers shaped the retained year for students and the nature and quality of instructional…

This project consisted of a meta-analysis of U.S. research published from 1980 to 2004 on the effect of specific science teaching strategies on student achievement. The six phases of the project included study acquisition, study coding, determination of intercoder objectivity, establishing criteria for inclusion of studies, computation of effect…

This study examines second-term and second-year persistence of 19,489 freshmen at American River College (ARC), a large, urban, public community college near Sacramento, California. Academic and non-academic characteristics are compared between first year dropouts and those students that enroll one year after the first fall term at ARC for two…

This book defines and reviews five central problems in the study of second language acquisition (SLA): (subconscious) transfer, staged development, cross-learner systematicity, incompleteness, and variability. The central thesis of the text is that linguistic knowledge is an autonomous component of SLA, distinct from the socially determined use of…

To promote active student learning and improve student self-reliance, the Learning Center at Utah's Salt Lake Community College has designed several innovative training activities for peer tutors. In one activity, which seeks to demonstrate the importance of student feedback, peer tutors sit back to back while one in the role of "tutor"…

Writing is frequently neglected in American schools. Writing-to-learn approaches can develop writing skills and help learners form connections between scientific and mathematical concepts. Teachers often avoid writing in their classes because of a lack of class time and the demands of grading student writing. The Write Now Approach uses the…

A current project is underway to develop a multimedia system that would support the teaching and learning of Chinese characters, as well as provide a platform for conducting research into the cognitive aspects of Chinese language acquisition. Although the number of commonly used Chinese characters amounts to thousands, there are many structural…

This document presents a theoretical approach and a methodology for analyzing data from students interacting with and learning from hypermedia systems. Interactions are mutually influenced by individual students' goals and strategies and the actions supported by the interface of the learning environment. The approach is illustrated by modelling…

This report evaluates the 1996 Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP) Summer Science Camp, a 5-week educational program for upper middle school students that emphasizes processes of thinking and development of personal and social attitudes that are appropriate for academic success, especially in the areas of mathematics and science.…

Many chemists want to be effective teachers but have little background in psychology or education on which to build successful practices. The primary audience for this book is chemistry teachers at the secondary and tertiary levels, and its purpose is to encourage readers to construct a new understanding of how their students learn. This book is…

This yearbook provides teaching strategy topics of general interest to social studies teachers of all grade levels. This first annual yearbook focuses on using social studies to bring the world closer to home. There are 17 papers, including: (1) "Getting Ready for the World" (Angene H. Wilson); (2) "Making Cultural Connections: A…