This document contains four papers from a symposium on integrating learning and performance in human resource development (HRD). "Action Imperatives that Impact Knowledge Performance and Financial Performance in the Learning Organization: An Exploratory Model" (Gary L. Selden, Karen E. Watkins, Thomas Valentine, Victoria J. Marsick)…

Constructivism is the theory that people learn by constructing meaning through interpretive interactions with the social environment. Constructivist perspectives are a growing influence among educators seeking to help students connect learning with life experiences, making constructivism highly relevant to vocational and career educators. This…

The Riley Inventory of Basic Learning Skills (RIBLS) is a group test that assesses 12 learning process skills in 5 general modalities (visual, auditory, verbal, kinesthetic, and abstract). The RIBLS is intended for administration to groups or individuals from age 6 to adulthood in two levels: a lower level for those who cannot read or are under…

That the emergent literacy perspective is gaining influence in the United States as a way of studying children's literacy acquisition. This report interprets emergent literacy research in light of the Vygotskian theory of learning and development. First, the report compares the emergent literacy perspective to the more traditional reading…

Guidelines for improving teaching and learning for all students in the middle grades are provided in this document. Following an introduction and discussion of the significance of higher order learning for early adolescence, a set of 11 principles to improve the education of all middle-grade students is presented. Based on a review of research and…

This book represents a compilation of the views and ideas of the late Hans Freudenthal, representing his last major contribution to the field of mathematics education. Rather than a presentation of new views, Freudenthal selected and streamlined old ideas, many gathered from his lectures in China, and formed a review of questions and issues in…

It is maintained in this paper that the "crisis" in writing is more a function of instructors' attitudes and expectations than a result of how students actually write. There are various reasons to question the crisis, for example: while the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the most careful test of writing ability…

The proposition that the mastery of complex tasks embodies several components was studied for 236 students in an undergraduate introductory financial accounting course. A new curriculum was developed for the course that included in-depth exposure to the actual financial statements of a company and the understanding of the structural relationships…

A possible method of solving problems of knowledge representation and system adaptation in a hypermedia environment was examined. The method, based on the notion of semantic networks, uses the technique of knowledge mapping. In the process of reading a hypermedia document, the learner constructs a knowledge map (KM) specifying the relationships…

A study examined the influence of participation in the Accelerated Schools Project on teachers' instructional behaviors, with a focus on teachers' instructional decision-making and their implementation of inquiry processes. The Accelerated Schools Project was designed to integrate high-risk students into the educational mainstream by the end of…

In second language instruction, it is important to examine the learner's effort in carrying out classroom activities in order to relate teaching activities to learning theories. Any impact of a teaching activity on the learner's language development must result from what the learner does, not what the teacher does or intends for learner to do. The…

This paper examines different types of student learning styles and outlines a four-step process for identifying and integrating these learning styles to provide students with the most effective educational experience possible. The paper lists five dimensions along which most learning styles can be categorized--global-analytical, verbal-imaginal,…

The goal of this paper is to relate liberation and the teaching of thinking. By looking at the great liberators throughout history, teachers can learn about their own craft. The goal of teaching thinking ought to be to develop individuals who can think for themselves. Such people have some measure of control over the meaning they make of their…

Educators have long acknowledged that not all learning occurs in a classroom. This paper describes an innovative educational program in Minnesota, where the educational facility was built in a dedicated space at the Mall of America. The program is based on an outcomes-based, transdisciplinary curriculum for 16- to 19-year-old youth, featuring the…

This book for students describes Quality Learning or QLearn, a "brain-friendly" learning strategy that involves five types of learning-skill modules. QLearn is described as a "brain-friendly" system of multi-channel learning, designed for secondary, university, adult students and trainees in business and industry. Under the system learners apply…