Researchers investigated the effects of an instructional game and supplemental reading on undergraduate students' motivation and performance. Two groups used either a worksheet or a board game to practice materials learned via lecture. The game significantly affected four motivational components (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction)…

Assessed was the level of thinking of 140 students who had been placed in developmental algebra as entering college freshmen. Scores on the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking, Scholastic Aptitude Tests, college placement tests; high school grade point average, and developmental algebra final grade were analyzed. Group characteristics are…

In two parallel one-year studies, solution strategies for subtraction number facts and achievement patterns of matched groups of first graders in two different instructional programs were examined. Significant differences between groups were found favoring the strategy approach. (Author/CW)

Investigated was the learning of the mathematical uses of "more,""fewer," and "less" at a very early stage in the development of ideas. (CW)

Critiques current models of problem solving for children, maintaining that there is a chasm between the experiences of real-life problem solving and the idealized frameworks that are presented to children. Suggests the use of children's literature as a means to teaching problem solving. Includes suggested readings, and a list of questions for…

Delineates the integration of the topic of suicide prevention into the introductory sociology course, and outlines the teaching methods. Argues that this approach makes social science research relevant and interesting to students by giving them usable information and potentially life-saving skills. (Author/DB)

The effect of test expectancy on preferred strategy use and test performance on factual and higher-level questions in learning from expository text was studied, using 42 undergraduates who reported their study strategies and completed a multiple-choice test. Test expectancy affected neither preferred strategy use nor test performance. (SLD)

This article introduces the papers in this theme issue on special education teachers' use of strategies. The article notes competencies that teachers need to master to become effective teachers of strategies, such as creating strategic environments and embracing a philosophy that facilitates independence in students. (JDD)

Describes the design, implementation, evaluation and outcomes of using writing across the curriculum in a package of composition, history, and environmental science courses offered to 50 developmental writers attending the University of Minnesota's General College. Writing was taught as a learning strategy related to critical thinking and content…

When two upstate New York teachers analyzed the problems attending student presentations, it became clear that only students with Quadrant 2 (analytical) learning styles were comfortable listening to an oral report. After their gifted fifth and seventh graders created a 4MAT wheel, their new insights helped generate possible solutions to common…

Traces the formulation and norming of a questionnaire constructed for the self-reporting of English-as-a-Second-Language students on their preferred perceptual learning styles, focusing on the problem of reliability and validity in survey design. (CB)

A study of 11 courses in 2 institutions (n=999 students) indicates that courses and teaching in which students have adopted deeper strategies for learning also have higher student ratings, supporting, in general, the validity of student ratings. (Author/MSE)

Presented is a method which may be used to help students start their own original investigations and create their own conjectures about fundamental mathematics concepts. An example of this method is provided. (CW)

Discusses a new model of concept learning called prototype theory and describes an experiment with nursing education students in which the differential effects of prototype formation on classification were explored through an instructional program on the concept of shock. Hypotheses tested are discussed and results of pretests and posttests are…

Fifty-two second-grade students were taught a generalizable problem-solving strategy for mathematics word problems. Results were mixed but were generally supportive of the notion that classwide student tutoring teams and direct instruction are useful adjuncts to teacher-led instruction in word problem solving in mathematics. (JDD)