This book presents the research-based case that Learner Centered Teaching (LCT) offers the best means to optimize student learning in college, and offers examples and ideas for putting it into practice, as well the underlying rationale. It also starts from the premise that many faculty are much closer to being learner centered teachers than they…

Suggestopedia is a recent teaching technique which enables students to learn with impressive speed, little conscious effort, and a great deal of pleasure. Developed by Georgi Lozanov, suggestopedia is based on the assumption that a number of environmental, social, and psychological variables can be altered to make more effective use of students'…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a program based on the utilization of a synthetic multisensory modality of teaching spelling emphasizing dactylology and to test its effect on reading and spelling achievement. One hundred forty-eight second graders and 16 teachers from Bladen County, North Carolina, participated in the study.…

A study was conducted to determine whether the VAK teaching method, using color coding as a motivational tool, improves spelling achievement more effectively than a more conventional method. The VAK method is a multisensory approach to teaching reading and spelling through the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile modalities. Forty-three…

Report of some of the most recent information in the field as found in books, articles, and doctoral dissertations. (Author/RY)

This study investigated the influence of two approaches to teaching poetry, an aural-visual discussion program and an aural discussion program, on the understanding of and attitudes toward poetry among sixth grade students. The schools, teachers, and 10 classrooms (divided into 20 experimental treatment groups and 5 control groups) were selected…

A study was made to determine whether instructional cues presented to the learner as variations of audiovisual and textual information including a cue summation condition (combined textual, pictorial, and auditory cues) can facilitate the achievement of precise instructional objectives. Some 112 education students enrolled in a course on mental…

This article discusses the evolution of teaching approaches in concert with the findings of over three decades of researches on student perceptual strengths. Confusing reports of successes and only limited successes for students with varied perceptual strengths suggest that combined auditory, visual, tactual, and/or kinesthetic instructional…

A study investigated the results of previous studies on the effectiveness of pictorial instruction, specifically examining whether the use of black-and-white pictorial instruction as a supplement to verbal instruction is more effective than the use of verbal instruction alone. Thirty-four studies on pictorial instruction that varied widely but…

A total of 152 fourth grade students participated in a study examining the effects of visual-only, verbal-only, and combined audiovisual prose presentations and different elaboration strategy conditions on student learning of abstract and concrete prose. The students saw and/or heard a short animated story, during which they were instructed to…

Recommends that drama be included in early childhood education, emphasizing preschool education. Cites research linking drama with enhanced language acquisition in children, ages 3-8. Emphasizes drama's effectiveness as a multisensory learning medium. Notes programs offering drama training for teachers. Suggests changes in teacher education and…

The No Child Left Behind Act was designed primarily to ensure educational accountability through schools producing positive results or outcomes for educational efforts. With this policy change, a need exists to provide parents information that describes the evidence basis for curriculum materials and interventions that are being used in special…

This volume of newsletters focuses on connecting research and practice in adult literacy programs. Issue A of August 2001 includes: "Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults" (Ashley Hager); "Beginning ESOL Learners' Advice to Their Teachers" (MaryAnn Cunningham Florez); "The Neurobiology of Reading and…