This appreciation of Wittrock's contributions to educational psychology suggests that his 1974 article describing generative learning theory was remarkably prescient. In that article Wittrock set the stage for the subsequent paradigm shift from cognitive to constructivist approaches to instruction. Furthermore, his suggestion that schools were the…

Examines issues in the controversy between constructivists and instructional systems design (ISD) that were raised in an earlier issue. Students' prior knowledge is discussed, the development of prepackaged instructional materials is considered, transfer of training and prior learning are discussed, and the need for greater attention to research…

The hypothesis that feedback in programmed instruction is an important variable in the learning of novel, but not familiar, content was investigated. A linear, constructed response program dealing with the Sabbath rituals in the synagogue was chosen due to wide variability in student familiarity with this topic. Subjects were randomly assigned to…

Whether interest improved students' metacognition was studied with 33 nursing students and 51 college freshmen. With differences in prior knowledge controlled, nursing students, for whom the content was related to interest, made more accurate metacognitive judgments than college freshmen. Results emphasize the effects of prior knowledge in…

Two aptitude treatment interaction questions were investigated: (1) relationship between prior learning and instructional method, and (2) interaction between anxiety and the opportunity to rewind instructional tapes. Students from five educational psychology classes (112 undergraduate) were shown video modules under either of two conditions: (1)…

A study was conducted to examine the effects of prescribing the use of some specific reading strategies on comprehension. The effects of such prescription on the interactions among instructional method and a number of individual difference variables were also investigated. Subjects were 140 high school students randomly assigned to read a text…

Describes computer-based study of undergraduates that examined the consistency of macroprocessing, or cognitive processing, of instruction in different content domains. Presentation modes are explained, pretests and posttests are described, and the implications of the results for the investigation of individual differences in learning are…

Discussion of reading strategies focuses on a study of high school students that used three presentation modes via computer, with and without explanations about the value of text review. Highlights include pretests and posttests, student characteristics, test anxiety, prior knowledge, and implications for aptitude treatment interaction research…

To date the authors have completed 23 studies of knowledge monitoring and its relationship to learning from instruction. Their earlier work, 12 studies in all, is summarized and reported elsewhere (see Tobias and Everson, 1996; Tobias and Everson, 2000). In this paper they continue this line of research and summarize the results of 11 studies that…