Notes that many students enter postsecondary institutions unprepared to meet the studying demands placed on them. Examines models and taxonomies that have guided researchers as they have investigated studying. Reviews research factors related to studying at the college level: course characteristics, learner characteristics, and learning…

Explores the multidimensional nature of learning from text through a discussion of the critical variables of students' knowledge, interest, and use of strategies. Examines the developmental nature of learning from text as students journey through school from acclimation to competence, and finally to expertise in a subject area. Suggests…

Discussion of students' prior knowledge and its effect on analogical reasoning focuses on four case studies of high school and college students that were designed to determine factors important for success in overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning. Explanatory models are explained, and abstract transfer versus explanatory model…

The four "villages" of experiential learning (EL) are (1) assessment and accreditation of prior learning; (2) EL as the basis for change in postsecondary institutions; (3) EL as the basis for community action and social change; and (4) EL as a medium for personal growth and development. (SK)

Discusses the use of a questionnaire at the beginning of a history of psychology course to assess student knowledge of historical findings, major concepts, and assumptions about the nature of psychology. Responses indicate areas for future course emphases and reveal shortcomings in other psychology courses. (GEA)

Replicates and expands upon an earlier study conducted by Robert Szafran in which a pretest was used to explore the effects of prior knowledge upon grades. Confirms that pretest scores and grade point average predict posttest scores. Presents a number of implications for teaching. (KO)

Examines the effect of prior knowledge and difficult vocabulary on students' recall of a passage from a social studies text. Concludes that vocabulary difficulty may affect microprocessing (development of coherent text base) while prior knowledge may affect macroprocessing (summarizing), and that these effects function independently, not…

Students use their preschool experiences to form personal theories about the world and rarely correct misconceptions even when new information is presented. This article describes an elementary science teacher's efforts to help fifth and sixth graders revise personal electricity theories, based on experimentation. There is no simple way to…

Four third-grade and three fourth-grade students received individualized instruction on addition and subtraction of fractions for three weeks. Students overgeneralized the meanings of symbolic representations for whole numbers to fractions and vice versa. (MKR)

Whether interest improved students' metacognition was studied with 33 nursing students and 51 college freshmen. With differences in prior knowledge controlled, nursing students, for whom the content was related to interest, made more accurate metacognitive judgments than college freshmen. Results emphasize the effects of prior knowledge in…

Reviews recent research on crosslinguistic influence, focusing on the part played by knowledge of one's first language in the acquisition of a second language (L2). It is also argued that there can be transfer that is not licensed by similarity to the L2, and where the way the L2 works may largely go unheeded. (86 references) (MDM)

Reports on a study designed to investigate loudness judgments of 30 musician and 30 nonmusician listeners in response to performed dynamic changes within a musical context. Finds that musician subjects indicated a significantly smaller magnitude of dynamic change than did nonmusician subjects. (CFR)

Compares preferential ratings of art music among 100 music majors and 100 nonmusic majors. Finds that music majors' preference ratings were significantly higher than those of the nonmajors. Also finds that Likert-scale ratings of nonmajors using the Continuous Response Digital Interface were higher than those using a static measure. (CFR)

Discusses a study focusing on the process of learning and long-term memory in learning economics. Suggests that effective learning occurs when students have incorporated successfully the formal propositions presented into their permanent knowledge bases. Concludes that when topics are presented that build on students' prior knowledge, economic…

Examines how two different writing tasks of writing from sources influence students' thinking in reading and writing. Finds that students interpreted the two tasks differently but showed no differences in the proportion of prior knowledge included, nor in learning. (SR)