Many elementary and junior high school students do not become proficient with common and decimal fractions because they have established few connections between the form they learn in the classroom and understandings they already have. (Author/GC)

Acknowledges that many basic writing students have few personal experiences that translate into telling examples and effective supports in their writing. Suggests that teachers encourage students to fabricate in their narratives, since such structured lying gives students sufficient objectivity to revise--a significant step toward good writing.…

Describes a procedure termed free associational assessment that uses free recall and associational thinking. A sample lesson is provided. (HOD)

Using sixth-grade students, a study examines (1) relationships between background knowledge and passage comprehension, (2) relative usefulness of certain variations in measuring available knowledge, (3) value of a background measure as applied to a teacher-directed small group prereading language and concept organizer activity, and (4) effect of a…

Replicates a 1977 study and reaches similar conclusions: specifically, that schematic interpretations have a high relationship to prior knowledge. (FL)

Concludes that sixth-grade students taught with methods that used a structured overview to activate background knowledge, the cloze procedure to develop an inferential thinking strategy, and a self-monitoring checklist to maintain the strategy increased their inferential comprehension skills as measured by both immediate and delayed transfer…

Examines the effects of a 10-week program designed to heighten fifth- and eighth-grade students' awareness of information explicitly stated in text, implied by text, and found only in the individual's knowledge base. (FL)

The Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology (CCT) conducted a three year study of a large-scale data reporting system, developed by the Grow Network for New York City's Department of Education. This paper presents a framework based on two years of research exploring the intersection of decision-support technologies,…

This study aimed to explain prospective teachers' anxiety about teaching in relation to their teaching efficacy beliefs and prior teaching experiences. Participants included 27 preservice teachers. Three instruments were used: Student Teacher Anxiety Scale (STAS), Prior Experiences in Teaching Questionnaire (PETQ), and Teachers' Sense of Efficacy…

This report provides information on the content and nature of labor education in Canada. Section A outlines the study's purposes to explain why labor education should be considered for prior learning assessment and recognition purposes. Section B describes the theoretical framework and methodology and explains the attempt to canvass a reasonably…

Reading research continues to identify phonemic awareness and knowledge of the alphabetic principle as key factors in the literacy acquisition process and to indicate that they greatly facilitate decoding efforts. While research indicates that phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge are necessary to literacy acquisition, many early childhood…

Researchers are aware that grouping students by prior knowledge may result in moderate gains in intermediate grade students' mathematics achievement. Despite this research, many teachers continue to teach the way they were taught: one curriculum for all students regardless of students' readiness. Additionally, researchers have raised concerns…

This study identifies the most common biological concepts presented in elementary science textbooks in Taiwan. The concepts focus on living things, animals, and plants in grades one through four. Three major areas of concern are: attributes of the three related concepts; development of the concepts focusing on content organization and their…

Readers possess vast amounts of knowledge gained from their prior experiences and exposures. The more they are helped to use that knowledge for connecting new ideas to known subjects as they read, the better their comprehension will be. Discussions before reading have been a traditional way to activate students' schema for stories, but a new…

Recent studies have emphasized the significant implications of multimedia for the learning process. Even those researchers who take a less enthusiastic stand do not hesitate to assent that when blended with suitable pedagogical techniques and a proper design, the combined use of multiple media for the viewing and study of educational material can…