Distance educators should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies as they design new programs. Two papers discuss a model for understanding the nature of the teaching and learning interaction and present a case study of the use of computer-mediated communication technology in the delivery of a graduate credit course. (JOW)

In contrast to the dominant "common elements" knowledge transfer theory, an interpretive perspective is developed, according to which appropriate transfer is socioculturally rather than objectively defined and is selective. Via a synthesis of cognitive research, thinking-skills instruction features effective in promoting transfer are identified.…

The ten finalists for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's annual Professor of the Year award give a variety of opinions about the most important ways students learn, stressing the multiplicity and diversity of individual learning strategies. (MSE)

Describes an approach to teaching the elementary school curriculum using heuristics, which develops children's critical thinking skills. (SRT)

Describes a sequence of writing exercises that synthesizes current work on expressive discourse, learning theory, and classical exercises of the kind that are represented in Quintilian's progymnasmata. (HOD)

Recent meta-analyses and other studies of media's influence on learning are reviewed. Consistent evidence is found for the generalization that there are no learning benefits to be gained from employing any specific medium to deliver instruction. Problems and suggestions concerning current media attribute and symbol system theories are described.…

The effects of text-provided aids on readers' understanding of scientific passages are discussed. Two techniques are pretraining on definitions and signaling. In the experiments, subjects read a scientific passage with either definitions pretraining, signaling, both, or neither. Results indicated these techniques helped readers build mental models…

Discusses learning how to compose a film as one way children can learn the valuable lesson of how to give form to ideas and shape to thought. Presents the stages of composing a film and a sequence of filmmaking activities for introduction at progressive grade levels. (HTH)

Suggests adapted teaching strategies that can help meet the deaf students' special needs in reading. (FL)

Discusses inquiry and discovery methods in elementary school science education; emphasizes the importance of teachers knowing whether they are using the inquiry approach and to what extent. Presents a chart listing the steps involved in problem solving, indicating whether a step is teacher- or student-controlled. (BC)

Notes that while gifted students have characteristics that suggest superior reading ability, not all of them become capable readers. Proposes a teaching program that is different in content, method, and pacing to help these children reach their potential. (FL)

A study of elementary school students investigated the effects of immediate feedback during a spelling pretest compared to the usual delayed feedback after dictation of an entire word list. Results indicated a small degree of difference between methods. (Author/DF)

Author argues for greater attention to be given to learning through images rather than concepts. (Editor/RK)

This paper is concerned with the role that schools can play in engaging young people in their learning, and helping them to develop skills and attitudes that will give them an orientation towards learning for life. To meet the needs of an era of lifelong learning, schools need to view themselves as a stage in the ongoing learning process, where…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction of student learning style and presentation mode on student learning in an introduction to computer science class. The learning styles studied were sensing and intuiting, as identified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The presentation mode was either traditional lecture or hypermedia.…