Use of concept mapping as an assessment tool allows links to be made between concepts, and shows both scientifically correct propositions and misconceptions. Annotated drawings offer an alternative form of expression to children who may hold ideas but find it difficult to express them in words or to recognize links between them. (PVD)

This study tested the hypothesis that children as young as two years use what adults tell them about meaning relations when making inferences about new words. Subjects (n=18) learned two new terms, with instructions to treat one term as superordinate to the other or replace one with the other, and with no instructions. Children used both kinds of…

Based on an ethnographic study that focused on the relations of students' in- and out-of-class cultural learning during a five-week study-abroad program in Spain, this article analyzes processes of teaching and learning in a Spanish culture and civilization class, the experiences of the only African-American student in the program, and students'…

Discusses ways in which new technologies, including multimedia and the World Wide Web, support and enhance a range of skills associated with deep-level processing and meaningful learning such as metacognition, problem solving, and critical thinking. Argues that these technologies are underestimated in their capacity to facilitate intellectual…

Teachers have not figured prominently in school restructuring, but exercise important pedagogical leadership through shaping, enacting, and living their schools' vision and culture. An Australian school's experience illustrates how teachers can create "radical spaces" for debate whereby the "entitlement to speak" against…

A study of 82 Canadian college freshmen investigated working memory, verbal ability, and prior knowledge as predictors of quality of students' lecture notes, lecture summaries, and content recall. Students with higher working memory benefitted more from listening to the lecture than from listening and taking notes. Quality of summaries predicted…

Discusses telematics and the use of computer networks to support collaborative education, both among teachers for training and planning and among students in their learning process. Highlights include traditional class groups and groups using computer-mediated communication; teachers' roles; learning circles for teachers; online teacher training;…

Summarizes a 1997-98 pilot study that asked five Finnish teachers working with immigrant children to discuss problems of Russian-speaking students in Finnish classrooms. Russian-speaking students were also interviewed. Problem areas included social relationships, teacher and learner roles, the teaching/learning process, and parent/school…

Eighty-five preservice-education students observed a science experiment concerning either buoyancy or the forces acting on a stationary object, then wrote a series of explanations. Results suggest that students' use of rhetorical structures (explanation, comparison, argumentation, and summarization) stimulated construction of new knowledge, but…

Explores changes in students' (n=250) thinking about basic chemical ideas during a context-based curricular approach. Suggests that 16- to 18-year-old students enter chemistry courses with a wide range of misunderstandings about chemical reactions, but understanding improves steadily as the course progresses. Concludes that even misunderstandings…

Investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners in an 11th-grade chemistry classroom. Discovered that students' metaphors were congruent with their views of learning and learning processes as evidenced by multiple data sources. Argues that students' metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who…

While research has a great deal to tell educators about how college students learn, the educational community is becoming dependent on research and ignoring what can be learned from the principles of good practice in the classroom. Research should be the beginning, not the conclusion, of the investigation into student learning processes. (MSE)

Argues that inquiring must be the dominant feature of education. Notes that traditional education has treated children's thinking and inquiring as of little pedagogical worth; yet education that prepares for the exercise of judgment rests upon teaching students to cultivate the thinking process. Argues that schools must accept responsibility for…

Examines, in a five-year ethnographic study in secondary schools, issues of how literature learning shapes thinking. Follows 10 students from their English classes into their academic classes over their high school careers. Analyzes literacy events in their literature and content-area classes, including how literacy events functioned and what they…

Sylwester says education must begin relying more on biology than social and behavioral science. All brain systems move from a slow, awkward functional level to a fast, efficient level. Contributions of metacognition, self-regulation, emotions, reflective and reflexive responses, comparison, and classification to cognitive development are…