The value of verbal labeling is shown by a study of fourth-grade, eighth-grade, and college students who were shown pictures accompanied by short verbal descriptions. Verbal descriptions increased correct recognitions and rejections of unrelated distractors, while increasing false recognition of related distractors. Results were consistent for all…

The relationship of age and developmental differences to modeling and motor skill development were examined. Comparisons of the observational learning patterns of four- and five-year-old children and of seven- and eight-year-olds suggest that their physical and cognitive capacities call for different instructional strategies. (Author/PP)

The effects of semantic (S), orthographic (O), and unrelated (U) verbal stimuli on word retrieval were examined. S stimuli inhibited locating items within categories, whereas U stimuli inhibited locating the appropriate category. The discrepancy between the present outcome and the previous finding of S prime retrieval facilitation is discussed.…

The recall effectiveness of semantic and phonemic cues was compared to uncover the pattern of deep and elaborate processing in relation to age and experimental treatment. It was concluded that aging results in poor elaboration, especially in inefficient integration of word events with the context of presentation. (Author/CP)

The fan effect (the difficulty in retrieving any one fact after learning many about a concept) occurs only when the facts with repeated concepts are stored as independent episodes. It tells us nothing about the code formed by a pattern of interconnected concepts. (Author/CP)

Recent research in the area of prose comprehension is reviewed, including factors that affect amount of recall, representations of text structures, and use of world knowledge to aid comprehension. The need for more information processing models of comprehension is emphasized. Elaboration is considered important for comprehension and retention.…

Reports three experiments demonstrating that recall for words increases with deeper levels of processing and with longer rehearsal intervals. Asserts that there is no interaction between those strategies. (PMJ)

Describes learning strategies used by design groups at the Educational Technology Center at the University of California, Irvine, to develop interactive computer-based learning materials. Highlights include excerpts from scripts developed in project design sessions; yes-no questions and string matching; pointing input and single characteristic…

In response to Whitman, "Self-Regulation and Mental Retardation" (EC 222 812), the author raises four points: use of alternatives to language based interventions, questionable effectiveness of verbal self-instruction with the retarded, questionable practicality of gradual withdrawal of teacher prompting, and need for immediate testing of…

Three experiments with 20 first grade students concerned possible benefits of onset-rime segmentation for reading instruction of children. In all experiments, onset-rime segmentation proved more helpful than postvowel segmentation in short-term learning of single words composed of 4 letters representing 3 and 4 phonemes. (RH)

Explains how computers can offer learners powerful assistance in their acquisition of certain visual thinking skills. Describes the limitations and potential of using computers as tools for visual thinking with links to creative writing activities in a fourth-grade class. (MM)

Training with a self-instruction strategy was found to be effective in teaching addition and subtraction to 52 educable mentally retarded and learning-disabled children with arithmetic deficits. Sixteen of the children, who were categorized as impulsive, showed a more reflective cognitive style following the training. (Author/JDD)

Investigated children's understanding of meaning of the cognitive verb "know" (as defined by an abstractness and conceptual difficulty hierarchy). Found that knowledge increased with development, and low levels of meaning were mastered before high levels, and more rapidly. Understanding in audio-taped stories was more difficult than in video-taped…

Discusses individual perceptional modality preferences, including verbalization versus visualization, reading versus listening, and audio versus video. Literature on perception and on mental representation and learning styles is reviewed, and theoretical and practical implications for instructional materials design are suggested, including the use…