The authors address the need to teach students to become more word aware by focusing on metasemantic awareness, alongside morphological and syntactic awareness, as a basis for developing metacognition about words. They extend the concept of a definition map to other forms of vocabulary learning and provide several helpful graphic organizers.…

To explore the ways in which teacher-guided and student-centered instructional approaches influence students' conceptual understanding of seasonal change, we designed a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) course to compare, by means of concept maps, the learning outcome of students in two groups: a teacher-guided (TG) class (with whole-class…

This report describes the findings of an analysis of a series of action research projects conducted by Vigo County School Corporation at Terre Haute South Vigo High School (hereinafter referred to as South Vigo). During the 2008-2009 school year, 19 teachers at South Vigo participated in independent action research studies regarding the extent to…

Conventional testing systems usually give students a score as their test result, but do not show them how to improve their learning performance. Researchers have indicated that students would benefit more if individual learning guidance could be provided. However, most of the existing learning diagnosis models ignore the fact that one concept…

Relations between preservice teachers' guided field observations of primary literacy instruction and knowledge about effective beginning reading practices were explored. Preservice teachers (n = 48) participated in a Directed Field Experience course including instruction on and observations of exemplary teaching practices promoting student…

Explains concept mapping as an instructional method in cooperative learning environments, and describes a study investigating the effectiveness of concept mapping on student learning during a photosynthesis and cellular respiration unit. Reports on the positive effects of concept mapping in the experimental group. (Contains 16 references.) (YDS)

Increasing availability of technology in schools means that more teachers will have the potential to implement student-centered, inquiry-based approaches to learning. Assessing what each student knows in a broad subject area is difficult. Describes methods to address this problem including tests and reliability. (Author/SAH)

Students must understand key concepts through reasoning, searching out related concepts, and making connections within multiple systems to learn science. The Roundhouse diagram was developed to be a concise, holistic, graphic representation of a science topic, process, or activity. Includes sample Roundhouse diagrams, a diagram checklist, and…

Describes four types of concept maps (slash recall, linear, radial, pictorial) created and used by students at the U.S. Air Force Academy to improve comprehension and recall of reading assignments. Provides student examples of each type of map, which are often created on computers. (EV)

Over the last 5 centuries, successive generations of educators have engaged in a reevaluation of curriculum and pedagogy in an effort to reveal the mechanisms that underlie the mysteries of the educational process. The current debate in the USA over the nature of pedagogical reform, particularly in terms of teacher accountability, high-stakes…

Roundhouse is a visually creative information-processing tool (J. E. Trowbridge and J. H. Wandersee 1998). The procedure requires learners to construct knowledge using "mindful" connections to replace less effective practices of memorizing fragmented information. Students create observable organization schemes of related ideas and icons in a…

Inscriptions are central to the practice of science. Previous studies showed, however, that preservice teachers even those with undergraduate degrees in science, generally do not spontaneously produce inscriptions that economically summarize large amounts of data. This study was designed to investigate the production of inscription while a group…

In this study we measured changes in science teachers' conceptual science understanding (content knowledge) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) while participating in a problem-based learning (PBL) model of professional development. Teachers participated in a two-week long workshop followed by nine monthly meetings during one academic year…

The use of mind mapping (MM), a visual tool developed by T. Buzan (1983; 1996) to improve note-taking, foster creativity, organize thinking, and develop ideas and concepts, was studied in a sixth-grade classroom with 16 students as an instructional and learning tool. In MM, a central focus or graphic representation of the problem is placed in the…

Investigates the contribution of conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction to 10th-grade students' understanding of the human circulatory system. Indicates that the conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction produced a positive effect on students' understanding of concepts. Concludes that students…