A four-phase study identified factors in teaching excellence, compared the teaching strategies of university faculty across disciplines, and compared these with the learning processes of students in their first and third years. Results suggest excellent professors prefer a deep approach to teaching, incongruent with students' more common surface…

Describes study of undergraduates that compared the effects of different small group sizes on learner achievement using computer controlled interactive videodisc. The results of pretests and posttests are reported, learning achievement and instructional time are used to calculate an instructional efficiency index, and further research is…

Developmental differences in the acquisition of information about strategy efficiency gleaned from observation of a peer model were assessed among 60 second and 60 seventh graders and 60 undergraduate students. At each age level, 20 subjects were randomly assigned to each of 3 experimental conditions. Developmental differences were considerable.…

Examines arguments commonly used to support the practice of young children coloring-in drawings. Justifications are examined and found to be seriously deficient. Describes three alternatives that involve teaching-learning strategies to facilitate the production of spontaneous drawings: verbal, conversational, and perceptual, each concerned with…

A study investigated the relationship of learning style, academic success, and gender in students in a highly selective combined baccalaureate/medical degree program. Freshmen (n=100) at the University of Missouri Kansas City medical school participated. Learning styles of this group appear to be similar to those in other medical programs.…

Describes the design of a hypermedia tool for helping preservice teachers learn about the growth and development of children's mathematical reasoning based on research in cognitive science, and discusses results of an experiment that used single-subject methodology to compare preservice teachers' learning with the hypermedia tool versus learning…

A study of 21 adult and 104 traditional-age undergraduate teacher education students at an Australian university found significant age differences in learning and study strategies, with mature students using more effective strategies more often. Significant correlations were found between students' strategies and their self-reported level of…

Describes a study that compares the performance of students enrolled in supplemental instruction (SI) with those who were not, during four undergraduate courses at the University of Central Florida. Indicates that there were significant differences in grades between SI and non-SI students in biology and chemistry, but not in calculus and American…

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of Zarco, an operations management "mock factory" experiential learning activity, on student recollection of operations management concepts. Using a number of single-factor and multiple-factor analyses of variance, the authors compared the recollection of students treated with the Zarco activity…

The results of two studies describing the strategies and attitudes of adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) are reported. The first study compared two groups of high/intermediate students (n=94) taking ESL in two settings, a traditional university and community extension classes. The second study examined intermediate and advanced…

A study evaluated the comparative training effectiveness of three language instruction methods: (1) suggestopedia, (2) the standard methodology used at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, a functional skill-building approach, and (3) a flexible-scheduling version of the standard methodology, with pacing based on group…

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…

This meta-analysis of 49 comparative studies shows that mastery testing has positive effects on student learning, but the size of effect depends on the stringency of the criterion used and the degree of experimental control. The effects of instructional time, student attitudes, and differences in ability levels are also addressed. (Author/LRW)

Compares the summary writing strategies used by professional writers, remedial college English students, and outstanding high school students. Concludes that the subjects fell into two groups--amateur and professional, with evident differences in reading processes, note taking, abstracting, monitoring, analyzing, and writing processes. (FL)

Achievement in Mathematics (AIM), an algebra class at Lexington Community College, has successfully demonstrated the benefits of collaborative study. Six sections of Intermediate Algebra were taught by three instructors, each teaching one traditional section and one collaborative section. All six sections were given the same lectures, tests, and…