This study examined: (1) the effectiveness of integrating verbal elaboration (metaphors) and different visual presentation strategies (still and animated graphics) in learning biotechnology concepts; (2) whether the use of verbal elaboration with different visual presentation strategies facilitates cognitive processes; and (3) how students employ…

Describes an approach to needs and syllabus design that is illustrated by way of pedagogic elements comprising the learning environment of second-year Japanese college students, doctors in training, who read, discuss, and write in response to medical case studies accessed and mediated through the Internet. (Author/VWL)

Examines two sets of classrooms in Mexican preschools over a period of a year to see why one set of classes improved significantly in independent problem solving when compared with children in matching classes. Differences in two sets of data were explored with a method for investigating classroom talk that combines qualitative interpretation with…

Describes a physics course designed to engage preservice elementary teachers in the practices and discourses of science through activities that would later be used with children. Presents an account of preservice teachers' progress in inventing and testing models, working with empirical data, critically evaluating and using authoritative sources,…

Reports on a research project that investigated seventh grade science students' cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they used the Yahooligans! search engine to find information on a specific search task. Describes measurement techniques that included software, interviews, and questionnaires, and discusses implications for user training…

Describes how instructors at two different colleges in Montana (a tribal college and a distant community college) collaboratively teach composition courses (using the same reading and assignments, and doing peer revision for each other). Describes how this approach breaks through cultural, ideological, intellectual "containments;"…

Presents listening comprehension strategies used by students learning French. Through interviews, students described their conscious use of strategies in different contexts. All evidenced a familiarity with metacognitive, cognitive, and socioaffective techniques. (50 references) (Author/CK)

Examined syntactic development in acquisition of Swedish as a first language in normal (L1) and specifically language-impaired (SLI) children, and acquisition of Swedish as a second language (L2). Similarity between SLI learners and L2 learners is evidence against the hypothesis that there is a fundamental L1-L2 difference. Some data are appended.…

Reviews the current literature concerning prior knowledge in an attempt to clarify problems with the terminology. Identifies the three main problems: lack of definition or vagueness, nominal versus real definitions, and different names/same constructs or same name/different constructs. Includes a conceptual map of prior knowledge terminology. (MJP)

Examines the relationship of grade level to children's ability to make musical discriminations when elements are presented simultaneously. Utilized a brief instructional period, listening tests, and singing tasks. Results indicated significant differences between grade level, types of discrimination, and musical interactions. Includes statistical…

Recalls a week-long field study trip to a reconstructed historic site, Barkerville, British Columbia. Ten years later the participants remembered the experience. The students overwhelmingly agreed that the experience sparked their imagination and created a real connection to the historical past. Includes brief excerpts from the interviews. (MJP)

Discovered that the introduction of piano keyboarding into elementary school music instruction produced a positive effect regarding children's sentiment towards school. No discernible effect was revealed concerning memory skills. Includes statistical data and description of survey questionnaires. (MJP)

Describes the evolution of a university course from a face-to-face experience to a Web-based asynchronous learning environment. Topics include cognition and learning; distance learning and distributed learning; student learning communities and the traditional classroom; the future as it relates to education and technology; collaborative student…

Suggests that distancing is the dominant response to poor people by those who are not poor and that distancing, separation, exclusion, and devaluing operationally define discrimination. Examines U.S. classism in the context of theoretical propositions about the moral exclusion of stigmatized others. Describes cognitive, institutional, and…

Background: This study examines the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among cognitive variables, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in Hong Kong Chinese and Caucasian American adolescents. Methods: Community adolescents (n = 2,044) ages 14-18 years from Hong Kong and the United States provided information regarding their…