This article proposes an integrated cognitive theory of reading and listening that draws on a maximalist account of comprehension and emphasizes the role of bottom-up and top-down processing. The theoretical framework draws on the findings of previous research and integrates them into a coherent and plausible narrative to explain and predict the…

Educational practice does not, for the most part, rely on research findings. Instead, there's a preference for relying on our intuitions about what's best for learning. But relying on intuition may be a bad idea for teachers and learners alike. This accessible guide helps teachers to integrate effective, research-backed strategies for learning…

Contour interpolation is a perceptual process that fills-in missing edges on the basis of how surrounding edges (inducers) are spatiotemporally related. Cognitive encapsulation refers to the degree to which perceptual mechanisms act in isolation from beliefs, expectations, and utilities (Pylyshyn, 1999). Is interpolation encapsulated from belief?…

Synesthesia is a neurological disorder that has to do with the "union of the senses." The literature reveals that students with synesthesia are affected with various degrees of severity. Students may hear a bell ring. Their brain is wired to take that sound and interpret it differently, through color, texture, taste, sound or temperature among…

The author examines the empirical, methodological, theoretical, and practical contributions of the six studies in this special issue on eye tracking as a tool to study and enhance multimedia learning. The design of learning environments involving graphics should be consistent with a research-based theory of how people learn and evidence-based…

Reviews research on cognitive styles and offers a model for integrating them into an information processing model of cognition. Maintains that the model will promote further research and practice by offering an efficient way of conceptualizing relationships among cognitive styles and intellectual processes. (BSR)

The purpose of this paper is to describe a framework in which thinking skills instruction and other needed instructional emphases can be integrated into a unified whole. Discussion focuses on John Anderson's unitary model of cognition (1983), learning-to-learn, the nature of traditional curriculum content, thinking skills such as storage and…

Describes two aspects of metacognition, knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition, and how they relate to domain-specific knowledge and cognitive abilities. It is argued that metacognitive knowledge is multidimensional, domain-general in nature, and teachable. Four instructional strategies are described for promoting the construction and…

Discusses the nature of speech perceptual capacities that infants possess, changes that come about with increased exposure to language, how growing understanding of native-language sound organization is used in developing word-segmentation strategies, and how developing word-segmentation abilities may facilitate discovery of grammatical…

This review presents a framework that accommodates static and dynamic approaches to comprehension of students' transfer of knowledge and skill. The review focuses on three sets of variables considered fundamental to students' ability to access intellectual resources in potentially relevant situations: knowledge bases, strategies, and dispositions.…

Discusses two experiments designed to clarify the cognitive functions of mnemonics in fact learning. One presents subjects with a single attribute mnemonic, providing only the perceptual link, while the other presents subjects with a two-stage model serving the cognitive functions of providing a perceptual link followed by a meaningful link. (MBR)

Reviews the neural modeling principles of learning, perception, cognition, and motor control, discusses their applications to sensory-motor problem solving, and explores possible relationships between that pattern of problem solving and aspects of higher order formal operational problem solving. Cites implications for science education. (ML)

Students' ability to access or utilize their intellectual resources as a function of many factors studied in the research, is discussed. Organization and awareness are the two most important factors in students' ability to access knowledge, strategy, or disposition. A synthesis of the research is presented. (SLD)

Focusing on how expert writers in various disciplines convey complex ideas, this paper shows how the techniques used by the mathematician, Clark Kimberling, in various writings can (1) be transferred to other disciplines, (2) show learning taking place, and (3) provide models for students to re-enact learning in all subject areas. The paper…

Abstracts and abstractors' critiques of eight science education research studies and two responses to critiques are presented in this journal issue. Each of the studies reviewed focused on a different research theme. Topics addressed include: (1) validation of a learning hierarchy for the mole concept; (2) transfer of learning with emphasis on…