Generalizations arising from effective teaching studies are vulnerable because they are not based on a theoretical perspective of how learning occurs or can be improved, but have resulted from observations of what teachers appear to be doing when students are learning. Critics of teacher effectiveness studies contend that good instruction requires…

This document provides a report on the evaluation of STEPS (Surviving Today's Experiences and Problems Successfully), the Waters Foundation Curriculum for teaching thinking skills and expository writing. Data were collected during the 1983-84 academic year, using a junior high school as a field site. Four experimental classes were taught STEPS two…

Noting that skills and knowledge taught in schools have become abstracted from their uses in the world, this paper clarifies some of the implications for the nature of the knowledge that students acquire through a proposal for the retooling of apprenticeship methods for the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. The paper specifically proposes…

This research project was designed to explore ways of making computer text presentations more readable as a way of compensating for the constraints that computers impose on the display of text as compared with print-on-paper displays, e.g., limited screen resolution and display area. Forty-eight undergraduate teacher education majors enrolled in…

The articles in this journal issue explore current theories of the reading/writing relationship and practices in writing instruction. The titles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Cognitive Processes in Writing and Reading" (Roderic C. Botts); (2) "Brainstorming and Writing" (Brock Dethier); (3) "Group Writing:…

This compilation consists of 26 consecutive issues of the journal "Seedbed," published from February 1979 through July 1986. Each issue contains articles written by teachers for teachers. "Seedbed" is an outcome of the Teachers' Center Project at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. It is designed to be neither scholarly nor trivial. Each…

This mathematics curriculum guide is to serve as a model and resource to Iowa school personnel as they develop or refine mathematics curriculum. It is based on research about how students learn mathematics and on recommendations from recent reports and studies. The philosophy and eight goals are identified. The second section of the guide concerns…

A discussion of adult learners and a description of instructional reading strategies--based on thinking--for adult learners are presented in this paper. A definition of adulthood and the nontraditional learner in the paper highlights adults' cognitive skills, interests, and literacy levels, while the metacognitive awareness of disabled and good…

Television has unique teaching functions that are significant for university education, and new developments in technology enable television to overcome some of its previous difficulties and weaknesses. Television's presentational power gives it two unique teaching characteristics: its ability to provide learning materials otherwise unavailable to…

This paper focuses on the importance and the significance of the teacher's mastery of an abstract body of knowledge that underlies an educational innovation. Concepts and principles from organizational sociology are applied in order to investigate the relationship between teacher's mastery of this body of knowledge and the process of…

Semantic mapping, which involves the application of vocabulary meanings, increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive structure, is recommended for use with literacy students in adult learning centers. Semantic mapping can be used as a prereading or prewriting stimulus, or as a postreading check of comprehension. Also, developing…

There is a group of terrestrial crustaceans, the isopods or sowbugs, that spend their lives in the cool, damp and dark microhabitats beneath rocks, decaying logs, and leaf litter. Although these animals are well adapted to exploit these moist niches, they are obligated to live where they do because of their need for moisture and high humidity to…

Critical thinking skills were taught to students in a lower-track freshman English class through the use of cross-disciplinary subject matter. Given a set of three transmission electron micrographs, or photographs of magnified tissue used in histology and pathology, students were asked to support their conclusions on which two of micrographs A, B,…

The articles in this collection approach the theme of "Reading in the Age of the Computer" in a variety of ways. Topics covered in the 26 articles include the following: (1) children, school, and computers; (2) new kinds of electronic learning environments; (3) the personal computer for creative learning and thinking; (4) going beyond…

This 27-item bibliography represents the variety of articles added to the ERIC database from 1983 through 1988 on left-brain/right-brain research, theory, and application as it relates to classroom incorporation. Included are conflicting opinions as to the usefulness of left-brain/right-brain studies and their application in the learning…