The Large Class Analysis Project was undertaken to provide instructors, administrators, and researchers with an in-depth look at the teaching techniques used in a variety of large (defined as having over 100 or more students) classes taught at The University of Texas at Austin. Data were collected concerning student attitudes toward such large…

A study was conducted to examine the associations among the processes, skills, and content of the writing of children aged 9 through 14 years. A further objective was to explore the impact of developmetal changes by comparing the performance of children at the 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 year age-levels. Subjects were 340 average students and 268…

Two experiments examined the cognitive resources used by readers in sentence modeling (summarizing the propositions in a sentence) as a function of reader task and of sentence complexity. It was predicted that encoding a sentence into memory for later recall would require more cognitive resources than reading a text to answer immediate questions,…

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 aim of this study was to investigate the strategies leading to test item responses in 60 young (20-25 years) and 60 middle-aged (35-40 years) adults, whose highest level of education had been either secondary, technical or university. Subjects were individually administered a 12 item test similar to Raven's Progressive Matrices, and were…

By identifying speculations concerning cognitive abilities and cognition's relation to culture, this paper outlines some of the work surrounding basic writers and speaking-writing relationships. Beginning with a discussion of the differences between speaking and writing popularized by Mina Shaughnessy, the paper goes on to examine studies that…

Well-designed problems are crucial for the success of problem-based learning (PBL). Previous discussions about designing problems for PBL have been rather general and inadequate in guiding educators and practitioners to design effective PBL problems. This paper introduces the 3C3R PBL problem design model as a conceptual framework for…

A four-year longitudinal study of concept attainment and uses of concepts, as specified by the Conceptual Learning and Development Model, is described. Data collected during the first two years were based upon the assessment of the concept, equilateral triangle. The assessment battery was administered to 351 children (grades K, 3, 6, and 9) in…

This article discusses a study undertaken by the British Ministry of Education to determine the effect of offering French to a much wider age and ability range at the elementary level than had been the case in the past. The study is based on the Nuffield project, a pilot project in French instruction carried out in selected primary schools in…

The primary objective of this study was to describe those mental processes involved in teacher planning decisions made prior to teaching. One elementary teacher's planning decisions were studied during five months of classroom instruction. Both ethnographic and information processing approaches were used to describe distinctive features of the…

The study described in this volume investigated the talk of thirteen-year-old boys and girls, recorded while they were working in small groups on tasks set by their teachers. Specifically, research focused on the interplay between cognitive and communicative functions of speech in contexts planned for learning. "The Children and Their Talk"…

A study investigated the linguistic development of three kindergarten children judged to be high, moderate, or low in emergent reading ability. Specifically, the study examined whether a developmental direction from dialogue to monologue exists in the children and whether a characteristic of thought termed "inner speech" underlies each…

This report contains discussion papers presented at a workshop held in 1981 by the Multiculturalism Directorate of the Canadian Department of the Secretary of State to consider the effects of television on public attitudes and to develop approaches for educating viewers to analyze critically what they see. The papers include (1) an overview of the…

A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using oral story making experiences to improve the oral language proficiencies and "sense of story" of fourth grade remedial reading students through select literary experiences. These experiences included exposing the students to literature in read-aloud exercises, and using wordless…

The manuscripts in this publication present a variety of insights into the function of education in contemporary America, the responsibilities of educators, and the future of educational institutions as they adapt to changing social conditions. Viewpoints are expressed on the following subjects: (1) the role of education in clarifying the…