This investigation of domain-specific professional reading clarified the way 12 professionally active teachers select and read journal articles in their field. Think-aloud reports identified categories of (1) using strategies; (2) connecting to practice; (3) monitoring; (4) questioning; and (5) evaluating. These teachers created meaning in complex…

The seminal work by Ericsson and Simon established verbal reports as a genuine way to get a glimpse into the "black box" of the workings of the human mind, and it is now recognised as a method of value in the pursuit of new knowledge relating to, for instance, learner strategies, cognitive strategies, human-computer interaction, and functionality…

This study, using both qualitative and quantitative measures, investigates how different types of gloss conditions affect Korean college students' reading comprehension. One hundred and six undergraduates at a university in Korea participated in the study. Twelve were assigned to think aloud, and the rest (ninety-four) took part in the main study…

Numerous studies have shown that thinking aloud while reading can be an effective instructional technique in helping students improve their reading comprehension. However, most of the studies that examined the effects of think-aloud involve subjects reading individually and carried out in isolation away from the classroom context. Recently,…

A study investigated the writing done by third graders and the processes used when learning to use writing as a meaning-making activity. Four focal students were followed through composing episodes. The classroom was located in a suburban, upper middle class area in Ohio. Less than 3% of the school district population were members of a minority…

This report describes a 7-week pilot study conducted to estimate probable participation rates for a planned substance abuse treatment outcomes study. The pilot program tested whether acceptable response rates might be obtained by contacting clients whose records had been examined by an earlier study (retrospective) or by contacting current clients…

The elements of statistical formulae that cause people to perceive them as difficult were studied, working from theoretical bases that involve cognitive load, motivational perception, and impasse driven learning. In a pilot study conducted to identify difficulties that novices perceive while learning statistical formulae, 22 students in an…

This study of the nature and characteristics of thinking examined how university students without full-time work experience and university graduates with work experience think when posed with an indeterminate situation. The focus was on such characteristics as expression tendencies, approaches to responding, thinking movements, and learning…

To better understand the nature of students' approaches to literary understanding, a study compared the meaning-making approaches of traditionally judged above and below average readers. In all, 144 protocols were analyzed from 24 students (12 seventh graders and 12 eleventh graders, half in each class judged as above and half as below average…

This report characterizes human problem solving in digital circuit design. Protocols of 11 different designers with varying degrees of training were analyzed by identifying the designers' problem solving strategies and discussing activity patterns that differentiate the designers. These methods are proposed as a tentative basis for assessing…

A study investigated the composing process to examine why different types of instruction have different effects on composing products. The study contrasted three treatments: (1) presenting students with models (the traditional method); (2) the general procedures approach stressing freethinking process; and (3) a method stressing task-specific…

A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of two prewriting strategies--outlines and rough, rather than polished, first drafts--in lessening the writer's workload. Eighteen college students were assigned a persuasive business letter writing task in control, outline, rough first draft, and polished first draft conditions. The letters were…

This study is the seventh in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This part of the study examines whether students could make more significant revisions in their writing if they were merely prompted to examine and…

A study explored students' dynamic use of various forms of reading and writing to learn. In investigating the relationship between learner initiative, literacy, and the ability to conduct a critical inquiry of a topic of study, seven college undergraduates were asked to direct their own reading and writing engagements enroute to composing a…

Some central issues in discussions of creative processes in science are: (1) the mechanism(s) by which hypothesis formation takes place; (2) the sources of new knowledge during hypothesis formation; and (3) the "Eureka" versus steady accumulation (accretion) issue concerning the pace of change during hypothesis formation. This paper…