Individual differences have been identified as important factors that might have significant impact on students' learning. This study investigated the effect of student's cognitive styles, achievement motivation, prior knowledge, and attitudes on student's achievement in web-based learning. A web-based course was designed for second year…

This study examined the preconceptions and beliefs that 17 entry-level post-graduate preservice teachers held about the type of teacher they do and do not want to become. Results indicated that there are differences in the way the primary and secondary preservice teachers entering into this post-graduate teacher certification program interpreted…

We examined underlying mechanisms for comprehension differences across expository and narrative text while controlling for factors confounded in the extant literature. Fourth grade students (n=32) read both an expository and a narrative text, and completed both a local comprehension assessment, and a global retelling assessment for each text.…

This study investigated gender differences for college computer science majors in Taiwan. Subjects were college students enrolled in five universities offering computer science programs. A total of 940 valid questionnaires were collected, including 796 males (85%) and 144 females (15%). Significant gender differences were not found for most of the…

In 3 second-grade classrooms within diverse educational settings, the theory of culturally responsive teaching was utilized in combination with the strategy, Text Talk. Text Talk is a strategy generally used with young children during read-alouds to foster oral language and comprehension. Culturally response teaching builds on students' prior…

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) combines the best features of traditional in-class instruction with the communication potential available via the Web. We describe here how JiTT has been used in Biology Education and how it can be used in Food Science Education. JiTT uses Web-based "Warm Up" assignments due before class to stimulate critical thinking…

This paper assesses university students' acquisition of simple and complex knowledge, in exploring whether the knowledge gap hypothesis (KGH) with its origins in community-based research into people's informal learning from mass media, provides insights into students' acquisition and retention of information. The KGH posits that attempts to…

The purpose of reading is for the reader to construct meaning from the text. For many young adults with Down syndrome, knowing what the text is all about is difficult, and so for them the activity of reading becomes simply the practice of word calling. It is suggested in the literature that for those individuals with Down syndrome, learning can…

This article will first provide a theoretical overview of the problems that learners experience in distance education. It will also deal with some of the implications for course design. Problems associated with study through a distance education institution include loneliness, time management, examination skills and the format of the study…

This study explored the process and outcomes of constructivist methods of enhancing science understanding in the topic areas of light and the earth in space. The sample was drawn from a group of 41 nine-year-old children, delivered in four two-hour weekly sessions. Each session involved different combinations of interactive discussion and…

In this article, the authors argue that despite the variable of language proficiency of young, immigrant children and educational programs designed for their language development (for example, ESL, Transitional Bilingual, Dual Language Bilingual, Sheltered Content Instruction), the strategy of historical thinking can help immigrant children…

Remarkably few studies have examined the outcomes of sign language interpreting. Three experiments reported here examine deaf students' comprehension of interpreting in American Sign Language and English-based signing (transliteration) as a function of their sign language skills and preferences. In Experiments 1 and 2, groups of deaf students…

The ability to handle proof is the focus of a number of well-documented complaints regarding students' difficulties in encountering degree-level mathematics. However, in addition to observing that proof is currently marginalised in the UK pre-university mathematics curriculum with a consequent skills deficit for the new undergraduate mathematics…

This article discusses the substantial changes in the system of adult education in Russia, in connection with a qualitative transformation of ideas about the possibility and necessity to learn new professions. The transition to the market economy has brought about a situation in which many people, both those who have obtained a professional…

Interest in prior learning recognition among Canadian adults is estimated on the basis of a large-scale national survey and illustrated by an account of the development of a prior learning assessment centre and the individual experiences of participants. Both the common principles and the distinctive activities that characterise the prior learning…