To take advantage of the emerging technological revolution, education must undertake its own revolution. Otherwise, technology will never be successfully integrated into the curriculum and may effect change without improvement. Primary focus must be on the future of curriculum and instruction, particularly discipline-specific process skills and…

Considers nature of learning; significance of promoting learning rather than teaching; active nature of learning from experience; role of simulations and games in promoting learning; process of debriefing and its relationship to reflection; and teacher role. The Learning System, which relates general systems theory to process of learning, is…

This article has three goals: to set forth some general claims about the course of skill acquisition; to discuss a series of counter intuitive predictions derived from the ACT theory; and to review the state of empirical evidence relevant to these predictions. (LMO)

Discusses problem areas in instruction, course development, and training administration, suggesting that a dominant factor in training effectiveness is an awareness of the limitations of the human mind to absorb material within a limited time period. Why the rule of seven can increase effectiveness of all training is explained. (MBR)

Explains the nature of concept maps and presents several procedures for using and evaluating them. Indicates that because the maps facilitate a sharing of meaning unhampered by any lack of verbal skills, teachers and students can judge with some degree of clarity how well a particular concept is understood. (JN)

The research on effective learning is reviewed in order to illustrate changes in how learning processes are understood. Using this research, the cognitive functions of effective learners are described and the implications for the characteristics, and functions of effective learning training programs are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Discusses current learning theories, indicating that though many psychologists and ethologists now agree on using a mechanistic approach, some linguists doubt its adequacy. Implications of research on the mollusk "Aplasia" to understand the learning process are included. (JN)

The Colorado Statewide Systemic Initiative for Mathematics and Science, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has organized norms and tools for an Exemplary Teaching Practice project. This document identifies the norms of exemplary practice and provides an instrument that allows educators to develop a vision of how exemplary teaching…

This paper presents preliminary hypotheses about a common core of faculty beliefs about how their students learn to solve problems in their introductory courses. Using a process of structured interviews and a concept map based analysis, we find that faculty appear to believe that students learn problem solving primarily through a process of…

Noting that maturation, biological reading potential, and a number of parenting strategies can help young children become eager, competent readers, this paper lists the strategies two parents used to facilitate their daughter's reading competence. Thirty strategies are listed, each one accompanied by the appropriate learning principle. Included…

A comprehensive school in Hertfordshire, England, is reexamining its learning strategies to provide the most flexible systems of learning for pupils, aged 11-18, who range in abilities and include handicapped and academically gifted. Among aspects being studied are pupil-participation in planning, enriching activities, and the teacher's role.…

Describes a unit on the physical properties of minerals. The unit, based on the learning-cycle approach, encourages students to move from single to more complex reasoning patterns. Concepts fostered are orderlines, quantification, and replication. (JN)

Suggests incorporating three-phase learning cycle into laboratory teaching to foster formal reasoning skills. Describes five types of laboratories, each of which offers experiences necessary for the initial phase of the learning cycle. Indicates importance of presenting concepts in a way that progresses from concrete to abstract. (JN)

The Mole Concept is a learning cycle (patterned after University of Nebraska-Lincoln's ADAPT model) for the chemical unit "mole." Discusses objectives and activities involved in each phase of the cycle: exploration, invention, and application. Indicates the cycle is superior to traditional lecture-demonstration for teaching the abstract mole…

Learning cycles (exploration, invention, application) are used to introduce general chemistry principles while giving students concrete experiences with descriptive chemistry. Principles taught in the laboratory, laboratory experiments, instructional strategies, and evaluation of the approach are discussed. (Author/JN)