Examines the proposed definition of biological literacy as the understanding of a small number of pervasive biological principles appropriate to making informed personal and societal decisions. Utilizes the content of a major daily newspaper to adjust biology instruction to focus on this notion of biological literacy. Discusses benefits and…

Reports on the relationship between students' propositional knowledge, measured by concept mapping tasks, and their study strategies, measured by self-report questionnaires, as it relates to the concept of photosynthesis as presented in a first-year biology course. Results indicate that involved, purposeful study strategies, prompted by relevant…

Maintains that educators need to dignify the language and cognitive experiences of African-American children. Asserts that African-American culture emphasizes charismatic and stylistic uses of language. Teachers must understand African-American cultural styles if they are to create cultural continuity for African-American children who attend…

Considers educational technology's role in designing effective instruction. Instructional design that supports systematic determination of instructional goals and methods for accomplishing those goals and for assessing success requires consideration of four variables associated with instruction: (1) learner characteristics; (2) learning task; (3)…

Describes a study that examined the extent to which different levels of instructional control and varied learner characteristics affected performance and time on task, using interactive video in a college biochemistry course. Prior knowledge and learner internality/externality are discussed, and interaction between learner ability and…

Describes Project FORE (Focus on Research and Evaluation), a hypermedia program developed at Utah State University for library use instruction. Topics discussed include guidelines for designing instructional courseware, lesson objectives, recall of prior learning, feedback, enhancing retention and transfer of learning, visual design, learner…

Compares the experiences of a group of Internet students to those of conventional distance learning students in the same Computer Science course at the Open University (United Kingdom). Discusses learning styles; background questionnaires that included computer use, email experience, programming, education, and attitudes; learning outcomes;…

Library staff at State University of New York at Albany surveyed 96 patrons in a 2-month period regarding their Internet usage. Gender, college status, and prior experience were sources of differences in searching and browsing behavior and in attitudes toward Internet usefulness. Libraries should actively create new Internet access points and…

Given the important role of science teacher educators in developing science teachers' understandings of nature of science (NOS), this study explores 15 Turkish "prospective" science teacher educators' beliefs about NOS in the context of teacher education reform in Turkey. A reflection-oriented qualitative approach was adopted in the…

We study the comprehension of a multimedia technical document about gear functioning by young pupils. The research is focused on the effect of three factors on the construction of a mental model: illustration format (animated versus static) signaling cues (presence versus absence) learner-control of information delivery (three rhythms of…

This book overviews experiential learning in the various contexts in which it has developed over the last decade. Experiential learning involves the knowledge and skills acquired through life and work experience and study, which are not formally attested through any educational or professional certification. The first chapter defines the…

This project investigated the acceptance of innovation and change as it related to a specific education change of prior learning assessment (PLA) at the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV) in British Columbia, Canada. The study explored the barriers that existed against students who wanted to have experiential and workplace learning…

This paper presents several methods of reading instruction that teachers can use with young readers, particularly learners of English as a Second Language (ESL), to help them cope with potential negative effects of background knowledge. Insufficient or inaccurate background knowledge may cause readers to make inferences or interpretations that are…

Early results are reported for an effort to use a reasoning-based mathematics program in the primary classroom. In the preschool years, children develop knowledge about quantities of material, referred to as protoquantitative reasoning. Integrating counting with the protoquantitative schemas seems to occur as early as 4 years of age. Drawing on…

Noting that conceptions of the cognitive representations and processes involved in discourse comprehension and production recently have undergone an important shift in orientation, this paper points out the importance of the shift to the conception of the nature of texts, of text understanding, and of cognitive processes in knowledge creation and…