Student engagement plays a vital role in improving students' learning outcomes. Traditional educational assessments of engagement have many limitations, which undermine the understanding of the mechanisms by which engagement affects learning and broad educational practices that leverage engagement. Through a mixed-methods approach and multimodal…

Essay-writing is generally viewed as the primary learning activity to foster independence and analytical thinking. In this article, we show that independent research projects do not necessarily lead to critical thinking. University-level education on conducting independent projects can, in several respects, counteract enhanced analytical skills.…

Reviews and discusses the literature on visual design and visual cognition; summarizes the results of an empirical study that investigated whether computer screen design with good visual design principles influence the learning process; and identifies challenges encountered in conducting research on screen design with respect to achievement…

Interest in mathemagenics (adjunct aids used in text to enhance learning) has most likely resulted from the indirect effects of inserted postquestions, whereby the learning of unquestioned material is enhanced as well as that of questioned material. However, since most mathemagenics research has occurred in laboratory settings in which subjects…

Types of comparisons for evaluation of mnemonics were identified based on equating exposure to the to-be-learned associations or on total study time. Experiments on the cueword method illustrated how highly analytical experiments on mnemonics might be conducted and how choice of comparisons in research could affect mnemonic evaluation. (Author/DWH)

Significant correlations between measures of cognitive structure and performance were found using a procedure distinguishing between episodic and semantic memory as an heuristic with achievement test items. The design increased the likelihood of indications of semantic memory. Higher-order and lower-order cognitive processes are discussed.…

Examined and measured effects of individual differences among the elderly in a cognitive training program emphasizing general learning skills. Memory improvement was greater for learning skill training and social support compared with a waiting list group. Individual variability obscured statistical differences in treatment effect. Examined…

A persistent problem in aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research has been the need for a better conceptualization of instructional treatments. The concerns are important in the analysis of instructional treatments: the importance of considering the psychological processes called upon by the instructional treatment, and the ecological validity…

The authors surveyed experts in the field of neuro-behavioral research to determine the directions of progress being made in increasing understanding of neural processing and storage of information. Based on this investigation, their report presents examples of research being pursued in this area. The authors see neuro-behavioral research leading…

Four separate experiments were completed using the same stimulus materials but different groups of subjects to determine if orienting tasks created problems of control in incidental/intentional learning studies. Subjects were all Caucasians and heterogeneous in age (from 24 to 64 years), educational experiences, and career choices. Those in the…

There is probably no widespread educational practice as thoroughly discredited as retention in grade. If the research undercutting this practice is sound, the task is to uproot outdated misconceptions appealing to educators'"common sense" wisdom. An Arizona study's influence on the attitudes of community leaders, local teachers, and…

Synthesizes findings from 36 studies that validated the Dunn and Dunn Model of Learning-Style Preferences. Questions are raised regarding the validity of the model, the nature of the literature base, the interpretation of the meta-analytic findings, and the conclusions. The article concludes that the model has not been adequately validated.…

In the area of aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research, an outcome variable which has received relatively little attention is differential student learning times, or students' relative learning efficiency on one treatment as opposed to another. Although it has been argued that learning times are not appropriate variables for evaluating…

A model of learning from instruction proposed that students perceive and cognitively respond to instructional stimuli before engaging learning processes per se. University students were trained to recognize only or to recognize and cognitively respond to teacher skills in lectures. Additional prelecture practice in recognition enhanced learning.…

Described in this article is an inquiry into the ability of schools and educators to improve educational practice by converting research findings as rapidly as possible into improved practice. (Author/EB)