Two studies compared strategies used to improve listening skills in business communication settings. The first study analyzed the effect of discussion length and incentive level on the ability of 347 business communication students placed in differing discussion and incentive groups to identify main points in 22 short, recorded dialogs. Results…

Characteristics of disciplines that affect undergraduate lecturing and teaching approaches were studied in the fields of the physical sciences, life sciences, humanities, and social sciences. A 1981 questionnaire on the lecture method of instruction was completed by a random sample of 820 teachers in the undergraduate liberal arts divisions of…

The extent of use of the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), also called the Keller Plan, at a large university campus was investigated. Attention was also directed to the features of PSI used: mastery criterion, self-pacing, proctors, number of times students could retake an exam, and the number of forms of each examination used. The PSI…

Auto-tutorial instruction was compared to traditional lecture instruction in a university entomology course. In seven consecutive terms, undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory entomology course were divided into two groups: Group I received only lecture instruction on insect orders, while Group II was dismissed for three consecutive…

Two experiments used two 2 x 3 x 2 (instructors x test forms x class times) designs to compare three aspects of student performance (mean final examination scores, homogeneity of variance, and retake frequencies) on three test forms. The test items on the three forms were arranged in three ways: (1) forward--items paralleled the presentation of…

A technology-mediated solution to enhance the learning experience for students in a large lecture setting was evaluated. Online problem sets were developed to engage students in the content of a human biology course and implemented in the classes of eight faculty coordinators. The weekly problem sets contained several multiple choice problems,…

Presents findings from research studies which suggest that changes in teaching procedures can increase survival rates in chemistry. Using 2-minute pauses in lecture and 3-second wait times in discussions, learning chemistry in context of major from which student comes, and computer applications are recommended. (JN)

Following a survey of employers and recent graduates that rated communication the most important personal skill, two pilot surveys were conducted to learn the efficacy of interactive video on the development of interpersonal skills. The first showed no significant effect. The second showed that student learning through interactive video was higher…

This paper explains the rationale for utilizing computer-based, hypermedia tutorials for radiology education and presents the results of a field test of this educational technique. It discusses the development of the hypermedia tutorials at Montreal General Hospital (Quebec, Canada) in 1991-92 and their use in the radiology residency program. The…

This paper advocates for the improvement of presentational methods of teaching and expository learning, based on David Ausubel's theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning and its derivative, the Advance Organizer Model of Teaching. This approach to teaching enables teachers to convey large amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as…

A study investigated the effect of explicit instruction in notetaking on sixth-grade students' notetaking skills and comprehension of lecture information, as well as on students' attitudes towards notetaking. Subjects, 41 students enrolled in two academically gifted and 47 students in two average ability language arts classes from a middle school…

Considerations that affect the type of teaching method employed in undergraduate studies and medical schools are addressed, with attention to the current emphasis on the lecture method and alternative educational experiences that require students to be active, independent learners and problem solvers. Perceived academic priorities and the…

The relationship between opinions toward arms control and certain related beliefs was examined in two studies involving interventions designed to change those beliefs. In study 1, 131 college students who attended a "Psychology of the Nuclear Arms Race" lecture and 98 students who did not attend the lecture completed a 20-item questionnaire…

Courses using a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) have proliferated in the past decade. Researchers have explored various factors related to PSI, but rarely, if ever, have students' study habits or preferences been considered. A questionnaire examining the study habits, exam preferences and attitudes toward various instructional formats was…

Note-taking at college lectures is believed to provide an external memory device for review and to require the student to encode the learning material into a personally meaningful form. A closer examination of the kinds of notes made and used by students may help to explain the relationship between the note-taking process and individual…