The literature on the extent to which knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned in one area transfer to another was reviewed for the purpose of identifying issues that policymakers and providers of vocational education should consider when planning programs to prepare students for further education and life. The review focused on the following…

Children from four elementary schools in Illinois were participants in the implementation of a project intended to improve their self-esteem through adult role-model intervention. The objectives of the project were to demonstrate that: (1) the adults in children's lives play a significant role; (2) an individual's sense of belonging and acceptance…

A series of partial studies aimed at understanding how much progress students can make in 1 year of second language study are described. The first concerns Swedish university students in their first year studying Spanish as a third language in higher education. Students were tested and interviewed for their perceptions of their language ability…

This document, presented in two volumes, reports on a psychology of mathematics education conference, the theme of which was "Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks in Mathematics Education." The two volumes include 58 papers, descriptions of 4 poster and 2 video presentations, and reports of and reactions to 2 plenary sessions presented…

The goals of this book are to provide a foundation for using the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA), a list of practical guidelines for designing a CALLA program, and suggestions for implementing CALLA in major subject areas of the curriculum. Four conditions for improving the education of language minority students are…

Theoretical tools from cognitive science were used to put together a framework for a fine-grained theory of how students learn elementary algebra in the classroom. Developing the framework included assessing the shortcomings of current models, evaluating whether unified theories of cognition can be adapted for learning mathematics in the…

Qualitative methods for defining and assigning letter grades on classroom tests were studied. A hierarchical letter-grade scale is described that combines teachers' judgments of the importance of subject matter concepts and their classification of assessment tasks as reflecting cognitive processing skills identified from recent research. Using…

Metacognitions about study activities and strategy use were assessed in 166 fifth and sixth graders (54 percent female and 39 percent African American), 108 seventh and eighth graders (55 percent female and 32 percent African American), and 168 college students (60 percent female, 10 percent African American, and 10 percent from other ethnic…

A discussion of factors that influence English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning by native speakers of Chinese focuses on three specific factors (cognitive style, individual differences, and native language interference), and offers classroom solutions. The effect of each of the three factors on ESL comprehension and production is considered,…

The work reported in this paper is part of an ongoing qualitative study of faculty uses of the Internet at the University of Georgia. The goal of the study is to categorize the functions of "class pages" (i.e., World Wide Web sites that have been personally developed by instructors to support traditional face-to-face classes) from both…

This paper discussed the use of structured observations as a research strategy in two recently completed studies that investigated students thought processes and behaviors in a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) environment and in other instrument-based laboratory environments. In the first study, students' behaviors and thought processes were…

Given the current and widespread practical interest in mathematical understanding, particularly with respect to higher order thinking skills, curriculum reform advocates in many countries cite the need for teaching mathematics with understanding. However, the characterization of understanding in ways that highlight its growth, as well as the…

This paper presents a rationale for teaching higher level thinking skills to students with special needs, including those with mild mental handicaps and learning disabilities. It briefly reviews the literature on teaching such skills, stressing that thinking skills can be taught through specific teaching methods such as a four-step method…

A study investigated the extent to which students' inquiry skills can be facilitated through the use of a computerized science database (Birds of the Antarctica) and specially designed curriculum materials. Much attention was given in the program to developing both students' inquiry skills and their subject-matter knowledge. Grade 11 and 12…

Testwise responses of grade-school students to multiple-choice science items and the intercorrelations between different testwiseness skills were examined in this document. A total of 134 third-grade, 133 fifth-grade, and 143 sixth-grade students from two elementary schools in a large suburban school district in Utah responded to 60 science items…