Working memory is where we "think" as we learn. A notion that emerges as a synthesis from several threads in the research literatures of cognition, motivation, and connectionism is that motivation in learning is the process whereby working memory resource allocation is instigated and sustained. This paper reviews much literature on motivation and…

This paper reports an investigation that was done ex post facto, examining the hypothesis that within economics courses defined economics students achieved better results than did law students in the same courses. This should not be the case if the courses are truly multifunctional. Information on an economics and money course and a course on the…

This publication is based on the session on assessment of prior learning and the accrediting process at the 1991 National Institute on the Assessment of Experiential Learning. The paper by Paula Hooper Mayhew focuses on regional accreditation, including the evaluation team visit and accrediting prior learning assessment during the visit. Amy K.…

This manual provides an overview of the concepts and issues involved in the assessment of prior learning in the context of the increasing numbers of older, nontraditional students returning to higher education. Section 1 gives background information about prior learning assessment (PLA) and defines PLA as assessment by some valid and reliable…

The current discourse about access can be changed by using three adjectives: old, wide, and deep. Regarding the first, since the 1870s, when the professionalization and specialization of knowledge took off in so many fields, inequalities in education have actually increased where it matters most--who knows how much of what is available to be…

In 1993, the Centre for Instructional Development at Centennial College, Ontario, Canada received funding to investigate the effects of student diversity on prior learning assessment evaluation processes and to develop guidelines to respond to any effects demonstrated. A review of the literature identified six barriers to equitable evaluation:…

Sentence comprehension is more than a syntactically autonomous issue and relies on the clues that are not part of the grammar. This paper considers "world knowledge," in this case prior knowledge of the story being read, as one such clue. In section 1, "reversibility" of sentences is discussed. "Sentence ambiguity" is discussed in section 2.…

The purpose of this study was to characterize the prior conceptions of molecular structure that organic chemistry students expressed as they learned to interpret nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and to describe the problem-solving strategies that students employ as they determine molecular structure. The two questions that frame this study…

A study addressed the relationship of culturally related schema to comprehension and examined the effect of instruction using thematic units upon the development of background knowledge. Subjects were 25 pupils (aged 8 to 10 years) enrolled in a primary school in Scotland and 21 students enrolled in a 3rd-grade class in Texas. Subjects listened to…

This document summarizes the National Institute on the Assessment of Experiential Learning conference in July 1989, during which educators from the field of adult education met to discuss prior learning assessment (PLA), a process developed for awarding credit for college-level knowledge acquired outside the classroom. Some educators were…

A study investigated one dimension of metacognition--the knowledge of cognition--in first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing. Subjects were 20 students (10 L1 and 10 L2) in a first level college writing course. A questionnaire elicited subjects' definitions of good writing, their notions of the constituent features of the writing…

Two studies explored the use of students' remembrances of school during preservice elementary education pedagogy courses. The studies assumed that cognitive schemas activated by writing remembrances would mediate the influence of experience on the interpretation of course content. The studies examined what kind of school experiences preservice…

This book is intended to bring to a wider audience research concerned with the significant influences on the quality of mathematics learning taking place in schools. The four essays are: (1) "Influences From Society" (Alan Bishop); (2) "The Socio-cultural Context of Mathematical Thinking: Research Findings and Educational…

A test to be used for placement of students at the University of Texas (UT), Austin, in lower-level courses in Chinese and to award credit-by-examination in some courses was developed, and its validity was tested. Faculty members from the Department of Oriental and African Studies and the Measurement and Evaluation Center of the UT constructed a…

Recent studies refuting the effectiveness of advance organizers in preparing students to comprehend text material have not met the conditions necessary for advance organizers to succeed. According to the assimilation theory, which holds that people learn by chaining what is known to what is to be learned, the following conditions must be met for…