Reviews seven papers presented by the Technical Committee for Education of the International Federation for Information Processing. Topics consider: undergraduate physics, high school optics, a mathematics lab with LOGO, simulations and modeling for secondary education, computer assisted instruction with biology, and mathematics of tomorrow. (MVL)

Presents a critical overview of trends in research on writing skills. Defines criteria for the studies based on current cognitive writing models. Includes treatments designed to change writer activity by influencing knowledge and cognitive functions. Discusses acquisition of knowledge or expert skills, interaction with other writers, and computer…

Presents results of a case study to examine an elementary school teacher's transition from a teacher-as-dispenser and student-as-receiver view of learning to a teacher-as-provider and student-as-information-gatherer, processor, and constructor view of learning. Chronicles the transition in four stages. (20 references) (MDH)

The use of restricted item response models to test hypotheses regarding item difficulty ordering and slope uniformity was demonstrated in a study in which 597 algebra students were asked to solve word problems reflecting various types of cognitive processing. Benefits and limitations of the procedures are discussed. (SLD)

Major changes in educational and psychological theories that have come about since the cognitive and affective taxonomies of educational objectives were published in 1956 and 1964 are traced. The changes emphasize the need to understand thinking in the context of students' beliefs and self-directed cognitions. (SLD)

Describes the development of an information-literacy curriculum that incorporates media and technology by media specialists in the Mankato Area Public Schools (Minnesota). Topics include identifying current skills; the Big Six information-processing model; grouping skills within the model; curriculum integration; projects to replace traditional…

This paper reviews findings from over 70 published studies investigating various facets of learner-control in computer-based instruction (CBI). General conclusions about the relative effectiveness of learner-control versus program-control are equivocal. Across these studies, however, are strong suggestions that individual learner differences can…

This paper reports on the evaluation of an 11-week curriculum created to foster seventh grade students' understanding of scientific modeling. In the curriculum, students engaged in model-oriented activities such as creating non-Newtonian computer microworlds to embody their conceptual models, evaluating their models with criteria, and reflecting…

The influence of theory on instructional-design models of the future is explored on the basis of the theoretical developments of today. Anticipated model changes are expected to result from disparate theoretical thinking in areas such as chaos theory, constructivism, situated learning, cognitive-learning theory, and general systems theory.…

Prior research on the information-seeking process, conducted by Kuhlthau in the school library setting, led to the identification of a six-stage model of the search process, describing cognitive and affective symptoms commonly experienced by library users. The present study was designed to determine whether that model is generalizable to other…

In order to build robust natural language processing systems that can detect and recover from miscommunication, the investigation of how people communicate and how they recover from problems in communication described in this artificial intelligence report focused on reference problems which a listener may have in determining what or whom a…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

Four similarities between reading and writing and their corresponding instructional significance are examined in this literature review. Each of the four reviewed topics is prefaced by general instructional suggestions based on research cited in the review. Topics and suggestions are as follows: (1) linguistic--whenever possible, the processes of…

This comparison of students' learning from reading books and from watching television uses Gavriel Salomon's model of learning effects, which is based on the amount of mental effort invested (AIME) in a medium as determining how deeply the information from that medium is processed. Mental effort, in turn, is predicted to depend on two perceptions…

Traditionally, studies of beginning reading have focused either on between-subjects' differences or on changes in reading performance characteristics induced by specific training procedures. A third approach to reading is a within-subjects' comparison of individual performance characteristics at varying difficulty levels. The present study…