Responds to criticisms of a paper rejecting phenomenography and the notion of "deep" and "surface" learning, noting that important arguments were not addressed, including the nature of the research relationship in phenomenography, the ahistorical stance of phenomenographers, their lack of appreciation for…

Discusses parallels between Bloom's taxonomy for cognitive learning outcomes and hypertext design, and argues that hypertext designs should be consistent with desired learning outcomes. Bloom's taxonomy is explained; hypertext designs are described and diagrammed; and the need for more research connecting hypertext design and effective learning is…

Discussion of evaluation of learning focuses on a constructivist approach to evaluation based on a constructivist learning model. Topics addressed include comparing traditionalist and constructivist views; traditional evaluation of learning; and constructivist evaluation strategies that include one-sentence summaries, concept maps, annotated…

Describes background literature associated with learning styles, the biological basis for learning styles and problems associated with using learning styles in education. Identifies four problems associated with learning styles research. Describes the results of a comparison of four learning styles instruments. (NH)

Three experiments assessed the extent to which statistical learning generates novel word-like units, rather than probabilistically-related strings of sounds. Found that 8-month-olds' listening preferences were affected by the context (English versus nonsense) in which items from the familiarization phase were embedded during testing. Confirmed…

Many deaf children and adults show lags in mathematical abilities. The current study examines the basic number representations that allow individuals to perform higher-level arithmetical procedures. These representations are normally present in the earliest stages of development, but they may be affected by cultural, developmental, and educational…

Instructing people to forget a list of items often leads to better recall of subsequently studied lists (known as the benefits of directed forgetting). The authors have proposed that changes in study strategy are a central cause of the benefits (L. Sahakyan & P. F. Delaney, 2003). The authors address 2 results from the literature that are…

Whether media affect learning has been debated for decades. The discussion of media's effectiveness has raised questions about the usefulness of comparison studies, not only in assessing applications of technology but in other areas as well. Arguments that media do not affect learning are re-examined and issues concerning media effects on expert…

Results show that children with flexible styles obtained higher performances on school learning measures than children who used consistent styles. Study results suggest feasibility of identifying children who tend to use a consistent conceptual style for the purposes of prescribing instructional methods and materials. (Author/PC)

Total Physical Response is a strategy for learning second languages developed by James J. Asher. The Tomatis program, developed in France by Alfred Tomatis, is a method for treating dyslexia and communication problems and is also used for teaching basic elements of foreign languages. Suggestology is a psychotherapeutic system based on yogic…

A review is presented of the research on the use of cooperative, competitive and individualistic goal structures on learning processes and outcomes. (Author)

Skilled and unskilled readers from grades 3, 5, and 7 performed one of three memory tasks on a randomized list of primary word associates. Examined reading skill differences in relation to memory skills. (BD)

The relative instructional effectiveness of five teaching methods, Reading, Lecture-traditional, Lecture-audiotape, Programmed Instruction and Multimedia, was studied. Comparisons were based on test scores obtained by trainee nurses on three different occasions following instruction on a topic in renal physiology. (Editor)

Thirty subjects were presented with a visual form discrimination task requiring them to match Roman letters when a variety of transformations were held constant. They were given massed practice across four blocks of eight stimuli. Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance showed support for the distinctive features hypothesis. (JC)