An alternative teaching model has been proposed by the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P). The model uses a six-step approach (outlined in an appendix) which fosters an environment in which children can ask questions about a situation, offer explanations, carry out investigations, and report their findings. This paper reports on the…

Two booklets were developed by the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--to help teachers adopt an approach to primary science teaching which would enhance children's understanding of floating and sinking. Both booklets were designed to enable teachers to reconceptualize their teaching task from activity-driven, didactic teaching to…

A two-part study investigated the effects of a text adjunct on poor readers' recall and comprehension. The text adjunct, a thematic organizer, was designed to define explicitly the central theme of a passage, relate the theme to students' prior knowledge, and provide cohesion among the ideas of the passage to accommodate text structure. Subjects…

This study develops and employs the construct, personal orientation to science learning, to study the processes by which children construct meaning as they learn science in school. The theoretical bases of the thesis are the commitments of a constructivist view of learning and the psychological framework of George Kelly's Personal Construct…

A study evaluated the effects of a 5-week study strategies program called RAVES (Read, Answer, Vocabulary, Examples, Share) designed to help intermediate students understand and recall information presented in expository text. Subjects, 156 fifth and sixth grade students enrolled in suburban Maryland science classes, read a section of expository…

Theoretical framework, instrument development, and psychometric qualities are reviewed for some measures of learning style currently in use with adults. Instruments reviewed include: (1) Kolb's Learning Style Inventory I; (2) Kolb's Learning Style Inventory II; (3) the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; (4) the Productivity Environmental Preferences…

The relationships typically existing between scores on reading tests and college grades are described. The four purposes are to: present some of the typical relationships between reading ability and college success; report upon some of the evidence supporting other possible predictors of college success; describe some of the problems associated…

A case study investigated the linguistic and social contexts of an adult Indonesian learner of English as a second language (ESL) in Australia, and how these factors affected his language learning progress. The learner, raised in Indonesia, was a young adult of Chinese descent. The discrepancy between the learner's perceptions of his own language…

A review is presented of the operations of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Overviews are provided of ACER activities and future planning in the following programs: (1) social context of education; (2) measurement and evaluation; (3) learning and teaching; (4) survey and psychometric services; (5) advisory services; and (6)…

Concentrating on strategies for processing information, this guide provides a collection of models and techniques appropriate for differentiating the content and instructional procedures in the classroom, and is designed for use with intermediate academically talented students. The guide is divided into four sections--Differentiated Questioning,…

The lesson's goal is to enhance student understanding of basic civil rights and liberties through a comparison of the basic documents undergirding the laws of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. The lesson contains: (1) a quiz on the basic rights in the United States and West Germany; (2) an outline of the civil rights and…

This 2-year study, which took a multidisciplinary approach to the problem of discovering principles for designing effective multimedia instruction, focused on the effects on instructional effectiveness of the discourse structure of instructional materials and the coordination of multiple instructional media. The task domain was a logic box said to…

The curriculum guide for Alberta's six-year French language program, which spans grades 7 through 12 and is designed to increase program effectiveness through greater specificity, improved articulation, and increased instructional time, includes the following components: a set of objectives reflecting the province's goals of basic education and a…

The focus of this paper is on how children use print, or literate language, in school and how teachers can respond and work with children. Beginning with a literature review, the paper discusses language use and literate language development in young children, pointing out that children construct their experiences through using language, and that…

To examine the role of elaborations in learning a procedural skill (i.e., using a personal computer) from an instructional text, 88 members of the Carnegie-Mellon University community (students, faculty, and staff members) participated in two experiments. Experimental sessions consisted of a reading period followed by a task performance period in…