This pamphlet reviews five reports that highlight an emerging consensus among researchers about the value of systematically incorporating cognitive instruction into the elementary school curriculum. First is a comprehensive framework by Robert J. Marzano and C. L. Hutchins for an integrated approach to thinking skills that has been developed and…

When learning is taking place, students test their hypotheses and evaluate them, and modify their current theories on the basis of new information. This phenomenon is known as "hypothesis testing view" or "theory changes." Many students change their rules to another while they are taking a test. This study introduced a new…

Based on the premise that environmental education should be taught in K-12 social studies classes, this document describes the eco/studies concept of the constant interaction between natural and human designed environments. The use of a model, through which students role play as researching social scientists, is described, along with the concepts…

These appendices present the protocols used in research (reported in Volume 1) on the cognitive processes of students while learning from teaching. Curriculum outlines are given for the videotaped lessons used in the second and third studies: lessons in sleep and elementary psychology. Included in the appendices are: (1) the illustrative script…

There has long been dispute in mathematics between the drill and practice orientation that focuses primarily on memorizing mathematics as meaningless rote algorithms and the approach based on understanding and making creative use of mathematics. This 25-chapter book, based on a 7-year study at the University of Illinois, seeks to explain and…

To help students organize and integrate new information with past knowledge, college reading teachers can offer students cognitive schemata that sort information into general and specific concepts. Without this ability, students will be unable to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, interpret, or transfer information. In addition, they will be unable…

In a study involving creative spelling, 300 kindergarten children and one first grader used computer programs to spell words in isolation and in stories they wrote. As the children made progress toward writing words in conventional spelling, they developed phonological spelling strategies similar to those that have previously been reported for…

Relationships between media format, sensory channel, and cognitive information processing are not straightforward. Media format does not determine information processing and storage except when a deliberate attempt is made to model cognitive processes by manipulating the medium. Sensory channel only affects processing and learning for relatively…

Attempts to train learning strategies have not produced marked or lasting increases in academic IQ, probably because current training models fail to recognize the evolutionary nature of strategies acquisition. Empirical and theoretical evidence supports an incidental learning model, which engineers the instructional environment following study…

Through the years teachers have developed a systematic approach to teaching logic, order, and structure. This approach has put to use the capabilities of only the left side of the brain, neglecting the right-brain activities of visual literacy and visual clustering. To help students organize information efficiently, teachers should provide…

This paper argues that the information processing model provides a promising basis on which to build a comprehensive theory of instruction. Characteristics of the major information processing constructs are outlined including attention, encoding and rehearsal, working memory, long term memory, retrieval, and metacognitive processes, and a unifying…

A top-level structure learning strategy is described in this paper. Topics covered in the paper are (1) strategic use of knowledge about top-level structure, including how the strategy works, the spontaneous use of the strategy, and the acquired use of the strategy; (2) fundamental steps in programs of instruction involving the top-level structure…

Discusses a preliminary and sketchy hypothesis of second language comprehension based on empirical investigations into strategies and processes specific to second language comprehension. (Author/CB)

Twenty-six deaf adolescents received instruction in a structured program of cognitive education called "Instrumental Enrichment." The program addresses, among other processes, comparison, classification, logical progression, spatial orientation, analysis and synthesis, and syllogistic thinking. Following training, the subjects showed…

A vocabulary instruction program for intermediate grades is described. The program improves comprehension through use of such features as multiple exposures to words in various contexts and engaging students in active thinking about word meanings. This method of instruction is compared with instruction that offers only definitional information.…