Eighty-five preservice-education students observed a science experiment concerning either buoyancy or the forces acting on a stationary object, then wrote a series of explanations. Results suggest that students' use of rhetorical structures (explanation, comparison, argumentation, and summarization) stimulated construction of new knowledge, but…

Describes how previously trained teachers, principals, and professors work with educators at different stages of development to implement successful cooperative learning. Examines four staff development stages in cooperative learning (awareness, trial and experimentation, growth and maintenance, and renewal) and specific activities of key role…

Investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners in an 11th-grade chemistry classroom. Discovered that students' metaphors were congruent with their views of learning and learning processes as evidenced by multiple data sources. Argues that students' metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who…

An Australian study of 80 technical-and-further-education (TAFE) and 89 university students and 381 other undergraduates (114 previously in TAFE) found that predicted differences in their approaches to learning were not confirmed. There was no evidence that the different missions of universities and TAFE institutes influenced different learning…

Two studies were conducted to assess students' self-reported use of cognitive study strategies. Studies compared high school students and university students' recollection of strategy use in high school with their present study behaviors. Reports suggest that students' dependence on repetition strategies may be a product of the lack of familiarity…

Describes a study of high ability, highly verbal fifth-grade students that was conducted to identify students' use of learning strategies, their encoding processes, and their navigational decisions in a hypermedia lesson on propaganda techniques which contained an associative-linked structure. (Author/LRW)

Asserts that becoming adept at understanding the logic of subjects, issues, and questions is a competency that, once learned, becomes a foundation for highly skilled and practical teaching and learning. Promotes the model of teaching students to seek the logic of things through the logic of science. (VWC)

Studies effects of an instructional program for deriving word meanings from context and through morphological analysis for primary school students with poor-to-average reading comprehension. Shows that it has a significant effect on the ability of students to derive word meanings, but found little evidence of transfer to general reading…

Low-achieving college students (N=94) evidenced less use of self-regulating strategies and a stronger relationship of self-regulated strategy use to positive motivational orientation than high-achieving students (N=49). Samples were predominantly white and female. Encouraging the use of these strategies may improve low achievers' academic…

States that a real education should give health-technology providers the skills and understanding that enable them to be autonomous in the performance of their duties. Asserts that simultaneous multiskilling, providing skills in a number of areas, and the reintroduction of traditions of "master craftsmanship" better prepare students for the…

This study examined effects of peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) on students' literacy development and beliefs about reading in nine secondary remedial and special-education classes. Analyses of variance indicated that, compared to control groups, PALS students grew more on reading comprehension and reported more positive beliefs about…

Describes six features of instruction that efficiently accommodate and accelerate learning of a diverse range of students in the general education classroom, including organizing instruction around big ideas, using conspicuous strategies, priming students with background knowledge, using mediated scaffolding, judiciously planning and organizing…

Examines findings and practical implications of a study on homework which helped Scottish policymakers, educators and families better understand, improve and build upon home-school relations. The study prompted the creation of study support centers in schools that were staffed by librarians, teachers, and parents. (JPB)

Describes strategies for promoting student success within diverse groups of learners. Discusses specific ways to develop a valuing teacher-student relationship that promotes success: getting to know students and providing structures such as individual conferences and meaningful evaluation systems can help learners to feel valued as individuals, to…

The Zhu model for analyzing computer mediated communications was further developed by an Athabasca University (Alberta) distance education research team based on ease of use, reliability, validity, theoretical support, and cross-discipline utility. Five classification categories of the new model are vertical questioning, horizontal questioning,…