This paper contends that efforts at educational reform must focus, above all, on the instructional encounter between teachers and students. The argument is presented in triadic sequence: three basic assumptions about learning, three interrelated models of the instructional process, and three practical approaches to promoting cognitive achievement.…

The major results and conclusions of a program of research concerned primarily with the relationship of cognitive abilities to learning are summarized. The major purpose of this research was to develop theorems of instruction related to the interaction of task variables and individual difference variables and to develop them in a manner relevant…

Whole task training and graduated guidance were used to teach independent dressing skills to two developmentally disabled 4-year-olds. After the boys acquired basic dressing skills, additional practice (fluency training) elevated their performance to socially validated rates. Follow-up showed that the skills were maintained and generalized to…

This study examined the contribution that formal strategies-based instruction might offer learners in University of Minnesota foreign language classrooms, focusing particularly on speaking skills. Of 55 intermediate students enrolled in college-level French and Norwegian foreign language classes, 32 participated in the experimental group who…

Advances in cognitive science have greatly increased our knowledge of how the human mind stores and uses information. That knowledge can be used to decompose curricular objectives so as to increase the specificity of instruction to a level of precision that should greatly enhance student writing. This article identifies some major types of…

Intended for teachers of severely handicapped students, the volume provides suggestions on systematic instruction based on individual assessment and curriculum development with sample detailed instructional sequences included. Explained in introductory chapters are the need for systematic instruction of the severely handicapped, major components…

This article has two main theses: (1) Qualitative improvements in education will not come about as a result of rhetoric or superficial proposals for solutions made by the social-activist breed of educator, but rather as a result of a deeper understanding of the teaching-learning process, and the development and use of new and better principles of…

A new framework for designing qualitative studies is described to optimize the emergence, representation and presentation of insights. The framework, called Reflection Methodology, is presented as a "Conversational Paradigm" that includes four components--interviewer (researcher as participant); child, task situation, and observing…

Six tasks designed to prepare teachers to develop behavioral objectives are detailed: (1) Define "behavioral objective," and list characteristics of behavioral objectives. (2) Distinguish between objectives which are behaviorally stated and those which are not. (3) Write behavioral objectives for learning activities appropriate to your…

Uses two studies to examine developmental and task effects in estimation problems. Results are discussed in terms of student and task characteristics and the implications of such variables on information processing model of learning. Implications for science teaching, learning problem diagnostics, and science curricula are also discussed. (TW)

The work of a three-year series of experimental studies of human cognition is summarized in this report. Proglem solving and learning in man-machine interaction was investigated, as well as relevant variables and processes. The work included four separate projects: (1) computer-aided problem solving, (2) computer-aided instruction techniques, (3)…

A study examined the strategies and processes used by a sample of 33 Argentinean adults with little school experience to solve problems and acquire knowledge at work. A Piagetian methodological approach was used to observe adults in building, rural, and domestic work settings and to analyze empirical data regarding their behavior in task-oriented…

An input output model for individualizing learning in computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is analyzed, specifying a stimulus array, cognitive processes, and response requirements. These three components are discussed as keys to both instructional and curricular development processes; the appropriate use and control of instructional strategies are…

Five experiments were conducted to determine whether properties inherent in some training procedures may subtly influence the adaptability of skilled performance of complex tasks. The first two experiments assessed the insensitivity of low-rate performances. Examined in the third experiment was the issue of whether instructions that focus…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on technological change and human resource development. "New Technologies, Cognitive Demands, and the Implications for Learning Theory" (Richard J. Torraco) identifies four specific characteristics of the tasks involved in using new technologies (contingent versus deterministic tasks,…