Computers provide particularly powerful environments in which to examine individual differences in cognitive processing and learning outcomes. The computer's capacity to collect and record response protocols facilitates detailed process analysis. Such analyses contribute to increased understanding of how individuals differ in their ability to profit from instruction and learn most efficiently. The cognitive engagement processes students use are critical in the computer environment as well as in a variety of other learning environments. The cognitive engagement processes used by more or less successful learners in one computer environment were investigated in a group of 48 California junior high school students using a computer problem-solving game called Wumpus. Results indicated that protocols of more and less successful students were distinguishable by the spontaneous use of self-regulated learning processes. Successful students were able to shift levels of cognitive engagement in response to computer stimuli and feedback. Implications for the measurement of self-regulatory processes in computer learning environments were discussed. Two other research projects, the Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation (STACI) project and the Structural Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation (STELLA), are also described. (Author/GDC)