This paper presents research on the concept of idealized learning environments called Havens that facilitate learning, introduces the topic of technologically-created Havens, and discusses various components of Havens that can facilitate comprehension. Three experiments involving college students at Vanderbilt University are described. Designed to…

The value of language learning theory and research is discussed, and the need for content-related linguistic, sociolinguistic and cultural research, as well as treatment-related research on language teaching and learning, is emphasized. It has been only gradually, from about the mid-sixties and increasingly from the early seventies, that second…

Aboriginal learning contexts are nonformal and are divided into 15 learning style characteristics (such as present-time orientation, authority, personal independence, and right to know) and 5 rules of interpersonal communication (right to speak, absence of interpersonal debate, avoidance of speaking roughly, avoidance of verbal confrontation, and…

Teaching skills can be acquired or modified through various processes, including observation, concept acquisition, practice, and feedback. However, evidence does not indicate that combining these processes into a single training methodology provides any advantage for teacher trainees. Teaching also may be influenced by providing information about…

This paper reviews highlights of research on teaching conducted in the 1970s, discusses current trends, and considers accomplishments likely to be forthcoming in the 1980s. The latter include better attention to context in collecting classroom data and qualifying its probable generalizability, more and better measurement of progress toward…

Describing an innovative classroom technique, which seeks to place students in small interactive groups rather than in large groups around a teacher, this study provides guidelines for making cooperation and mutual trust a valuable and necessary by-product of education. The technique prescribes that each child be given a part of a topic to study,…

This autobiographical essay depicts a process of development through which an elementary school teacher becomes both expert and professional. With an MA in Medieval History and no teacher education coursework, the writer adopts a personalistic, "unorthodox traditional" approach to instruction. Exposure to controversy among…

This book is designed to assist those who work with non-English dominant students by providing resource information relevant to second language teaching and learning. The articles in the series encompass both theory and practical learning techniques in six general topics. The articles in the first text of the series, concerning background and…

The cognitive processing capacity (CPC) model of teaching and studying was used to determine whether tenth grade students could improve their performance in biology. The 27 students in the experimental class were taught to study information in quantities that matched their CPC and to chunk these quantities together under a heading in a study…

After a brief discussion of the concepts underlying the design of a high school district's composition program that emphasizes teacher inservice preparation and writing as process rather than product, this paper develops a theory of learning language skills similar to that used in learning a second language. A distinction is drawn between language…

THE GOALS, RESEARCH TASKS, AND FUNCTIONAL OPERATION OF A RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION (R AND I) UNIT WERE DESCRIBED. R AND I UNITS WERE ORGANIZED TO PROVIDE THE MEANS TO CONDUCT CLASSROOM RESEARCH AND TO DEVELOP MORE EFFICIENT LEARNING PROCESSES THROUGH THE COOPERATION OF LOCAL SCHOOLS, STATE PERSONNEL, AND UNIVERSITY FACULTY MEMBERS. THE ACTIVITIES…

AN INQUIRY (SPECIFIC DISCOVERY) APPROACH TO LEARNING WAS SUBJECTED TO A RIGOROUS TEST AND EVALUATION PROGRAM, INVOLVING ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. STUDENTS IN THE FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADES SERVED AS SUBJECTS. EVALUATIVE CRITERIA WERE (1) SCIENCE CONCEPT ACHIEVEMENT, (2) DIVERGENT THINKING OR CREATIVITY, AND (3)…

The selection of wrong answers for multiple choice tests appears not to be blind guessing, as the current theory assumes, but represents systematic choice based upon the ways in which learners extract meaning and solve problems. It appears the departures from "expected" answers arise when the learner interprets the question in a manner different…

The effectiveness of a teaching method known as "pyramid training" is appraised. This training method was implemented in an inservice program called the Classroom Management Training Program (CMTP). The pyramid technique progressed in the following manner: A three day training session in classroom management skills was taught by a a consultant to…

This booklet discusses the many psychological factors involved in the learning process. The author offers suggestions on the following problems: (1) the technology of teaching and the psychology of learning; (2) programs and rewards; (3) motivation; (4) learning and behavior control; (5) the role and responsibility of the teacher; (6) standards of…