Describes action research experiences as the study was conducted and reflection upon the results. Determines whether 1st grade students have similar misconceptions about animals. Investigates whether a constructivist approach focusing on students' prior knowledge could alter the misconceptions. (Author/KHR)

Provides a list of possible explanations for difficulties the visually impaired may face in second or foreign language classes and offers suggestions for making their language learning experience more pleasant and successful. (Author/VWL)

The study found that 40 percent of 25 adult alcoholics were found to have had special education, remedial services, or repeated grade failure concurrent with a familial history of alcoholism and current discrepancies indicative of learning disabilities. Results suggest that childhood learning disorders may be related to the development of…

Reports a study of 1,021 urban and rural Black children in Transkei, South Africa between the ages of 13 and 17. Findings showed scores on the Standard Seven external examinations were significantly lower among children from polygynous families and that these families were prone to conflict, emotional stress, and anxiety. Suggests teachers can…

Discusses the environmental and constitutional factors of learning and behavioral problems in school children, and suggests an approach for management. Proposes an expanded role for the medical practitioner in assessment and management. (RJC)

Unmotivated and/or slow learning high-school students learned to effectively use consumer information sources by writing reports that justified the hypothetical purchase of a particular automobile. Presented are procedures for setting up the project, a timeline/lesson plan for the unit, grading system, and outcomes. (JDD)

The article offers teachers suggestions on ways to instruct elementary students in the vocabulary of mathematics. It gives examples of math difficulties at the elementary school level, math difficulties related to vocabulary, and math difficulties related to problem solving. (DB)

Includes "Old Dilemmas and New Policies" (Herrington); "Dyslexia and Adult Basic Education" (Lankshear); "Specific Learning Difficulties" (Walker); "Moving Forward in Further Education (FE)" (Chappell); "An FE Student's Experience of Assessment" (Waterhouse); "Out of the Frying Pan..."…

Discusses insights highlighted by a reading strategy training study conducted in a second-language setting. The study cautions against uncritical adoption of strategy training as a panacea for learning difficulties and stresses the importance of recognizing factors in the second-language learning context that suggest modification to procedures…

Suggests that schools cannot supply the reading background and then do nothing to assist their potential poor readers to climb the first step in the development of reading. Suggests that teachers need to devote more energy toward the maintenance of the social and cultural security of possible poor readers than toward the immersion of these pupils…

This paper discusses a teaching approach in which children serve as mediators in the delivery of instructional content. It describes programs that have been used effectively with students having academic difficulties, reviews the relative advantages and disadvantages of these methods, and proposes ways to utilize peer-mediated instructional…

Three brief examples of a learner-centered approach to adult education in Wales are given: adults with learning difficulties, a women's video course, and basic skills course for unemployed miners. The radical redefining of adult learning and the cultural change required of the institution and the student are addressed. (SK)

Intervention strategies for use with students with mild learning and behavior problems were rated by 232 teachers and were factor analyzed, resulting in 5 factors for intervention use (principal involvement, teacher intervention, special education, teacher consultation, and parent involvement) and 5 for reasonability (teacher intervention,…

Students with serious emotional disturbance (SED) are identified at relatively low rates, perhaps because of confusion about how to meet the federal definition's elements. One practical aspect of this problem is addressed: how to determine if emotional disturbance has adversely affected educational performance. Implications for professional…

Although the "consensus thesis" assumes that learning difficulties arise from school structural deficiencies, a study of two English secondary schools concludes that the thesis fails to account for complexities of school development. Instead, open-ended dialog between contrasting discourses would foster dynamic school cultures. (SK)