A curriculum unit for middle school Earth Science called "What's on Your Plate?" was designed. The unit was implemented in several middle and high school classrooms in California and Massachusetts. In the first implementation, the total number of students who participated was 1100. The unit was designed with two main pedagogical…

Two experiments investigated learning outcomes and comprehension processes when students learned about the heart and circulatory system using (a) text only, (b) text with simplified diagrams designed to highlight important structural relations, or (c) text with more detailed diagrams reflecting a more accurate representation. Experiment 1 found…

One of the most important functions of a teacher is to help students make important connections between the subject matters they study. Too often, the different curricular subjects, such as social studies, language arts, math, and science, are presented to students in a vacuum. Accordingly, many students leave school without ever noticing the…

Possessing high intellectual ability is no guarantee of academic success. In fact, the relevant literature often reports problems of delays in academic progress, as well as hyperactivity and attention problems in students of high ability. It is therefore relevant to design programs which help toward attainment of academic success. In this paper we…

This paper describes the integration of hypermedia adaptive systems for foreign language learners at an early age. Our research project is concerned with exploring the relationship between language learning and information technology according to six different phases: a preliminary study of the plausible adaptive system; the development of lessons…

This empirical study examines how English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners use their vocabulary knowledge for inferring meanings of unknown words in reading comprehension. The data, collected through interviews with young adult ESL students in Canadian universities, indicate that: (a) semantic and morphological aspects of vocabulary knowledge…

Based on the reliable findings that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have both attentional and academic difficulties, it is assumed that the attentional deficit contributes to the academic problems. In this article, existing support for a link between the attentional and academic difficulties experienced by children…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence the innovative power of organisations. The concept of innovation and innovative power was examined by analysing the relationship between the construct of the learning organisation, knowledge organisation and innovative organisation, and has resulted…

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 paper proposes a methodology to calculate both the difficulty of the basic problems and the difficulty of solving a problem. The method to calculate the difficulty of problem is according to the process of constructing a problem, including Concept Selection, Unknown Designation, and Proposition Construction. Some necessary measures observed…

Recent research by Swain (2000a, 2000b, 1998, 1995), Swain and Lapkin (2001, 1998, 1995) and Kowal and Swain (1997, 1994) has examined the role of collaborative tasks in focusing immersion students' attention on the need for explicit knowledge of grammatical forms and lexical items in the production (especially written) of French texts. This is…

Problem solving continues to be a major focus of K-12 mathematics education reform. This case study shows how a teacher's middle school mathematics instruction evolved from teaching problem solving as computation exercises to teaching how to select and implement combinations of problem solving strategies. The teacher's thinking about problem…

Objective: To compare the effects of active and didactic teaching strategies on learning- and process-oriented outcomes. Design: Controlled trial. Setting: After-hours residents' teaching session. Participants: Family and Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics residents at two academic medical institutions. Interventions: We…

Epistemological beliefs are fundamental assumptions about the nature of knowledge and learning. Research in university contexts has shown that they affect the ways and results of student learning. This article transfers the concept of epistemological beliefs on workplace learning. The basic assumption is that employees epistemological beliefs…

This article defines the cultural nature and scale of change in learning consciousness that has to take place when the organizationally-based adult learner makes the transition from formal prescriptive learning practice to self-owned, self-directed learning. It articulates some of the learning-to-learn process models that introduce, accelerate,…