Discussions about educational productivity need to recognize that students are producers of their own learning. Equating students with workers, intensifying curriculum requirements, and professionalizing teaching are insufficient. The best strategies involve treating students as capable persons, capitalizing on their knowledge and interests, and…

According to the late Ralph W. Tyler, the purpose of life is learning. The school's role is to help children (and adults) discover scholarly activity. Teaching is a complex process that requires continual learning. The goal is to become self-directed learners. Cooperative problem solving is best pursued independently of outside financial…

Studies conducted at the Institute for Research on Learning demonstrate that, at work, people learn by doing things together. Communities of practice--groups that develop and share ways of doing things--are fundamental elements of learning organizations. (SK)

Discussion of professional development for teachers in higher education highlights developing professional practice, including the Kolb Learning Cycle; the elements of professional development; the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) accreditation scheme in the United Kingdom; essential processes and structures for professional…

Explores the use of oral and written discourse by two teachers in a graduate educational-studies program as they constructed knowledge about teaching and enacted the teaching-learning dialectic. The case studies examine the two teachers' motivations for entering graduate school, their individual processes for learning, their elaborations of…

Reviews theoretical and research literature on learner strategies and self-directed language learning, particularly concerning the role of metacognitive knowledge in learning. Argues that too little attention is given to the function of metacognition in language learning. Practical implications for second-language instruction are discussed.…

Notes that the ecological perspective on observation of learning focuses on the processes of interaction while attempting to unravel them from the inside out. Concludes that this approach requires a new look at basic assumptions about its role in the construction of theory and practice, i.e., evidence of learning will require new ways to document…

Mindtools are computer applications that, when used by learners to represent what they know, engage them in critical thinking. This article discusses computers as semantic organization (databases and semantic networking), dynamic modeling (spreadsheets, expert systems, systems modeling, microworlds), information interpretation, knowledge…

Reviews and reinterprets current developmental directed-forgetting literature within an inhibition framework. Argues that item-by-item cued directed-forgetting tasks manipulate selective rehearsal to produce greater recall of to-be-remembered than to-be-forgotten items, producing directed-forgetting effects by second grade. Blocked and…

Discusses distributed-learning technology and distance learning in higher education and describes initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania to collaborate with businesses and choose outsourcing for some functions. Reasons for outsourcing include a decentralized institutional structure, high initial costs, uncertainty about which techniques…

Reviews selected pioneering findings in the child-developmental and adulthood-aging literature and evaluates them within the framework of Nelson (Thomas O.) and Narens' (Louis) (1990) theory of metamemory. Makes suggestions for conceptually-based analytical research to help specify the mechanisms that underlie developmental differences in…

Students' needs and research on learning should inform teaching practices. Makes suggestions for improving instruction such as using students as ombudspersons to provide feedback on class concerns, focusing on process skills, and incorporating problem-based learning into the curriculum. Also includes examples of successful programs and summaries…

Outlines a Vygotskian perspective on moral development. Summarizes Lev Vygotsky's ideas about the "zone of proximal development" and extends them into the domain of moral education, focusing on an extract from the film, "Boyz 'n the Hood." Shows how the zone of proximal development facilitates moral development differently from…

Investigating 121 learners' experiences with videoconferencing, this study used path analysis to examine the postulates of Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance. A major focus was estimating the effects of the dimensions of dialog, structure, learner autonomy, and transactional distance--the constituent concepts of Moore's theory--on learning…

To test hypothesis that young children may be open to learning non-SVO structures with novel transitive verbs, 12 children in each of three age groups (2-year olds, 3-year olds, and 4-year olds) were taught novel verbs, one in each of three sentence positions: medial, final, and initial. Results suggest English-speaking children's acquisition of a…