Two computer-based instructional design strategies were investigated to improve the two-phase process of concept learning by being response sensitive to error patterns. The first strategy determined the format of examples by adaptive or fixed selection; the second strategy adjusted the selection according to rules of generalization and…

Although girls and boys were similar in cognitive skills and attitudes toward mathematics in grade 8, boys performed significantly better in mathematics by grade 11, even with mathematics background controlled. No sex-related difference in spatial visualization developed. (Author/GDC)

History teachers and their 11th-grade students rated the relative importance of sections of instructional text on which teachers would be giving a test. Multilevel analysis revealed only a moderate correspondence between teachers in importance ratings. This suggested there were large differences between task demands of individual teachers,…

The effects of varying the familiarity, representation, and number of elements in maps and diagrams were assessed, using 89 male and 89 female ninth through eleventh graders. Significant differences distinguished the low- versus high-ability students' responses. The expected effects of form and familiarity on recall performance were not found.…

Ways in which student beliefs and goals distinguish different styles of engagement with learning, and how such styles are associated with student strategies were studied for 137 female eleventh graders in Australia. Six identified styles of engagement are discussed in terms of insights from analysis preserving the multidimensional character of…

This study tested the multifaceted, hierarchical structure of self- concept (SC) against alternative models and determined whether academic SC can be discriminated from academic grades. Results supported the multidimensional interpretation of SC and demonstrated that general SC could be interpreted as distinct from but correlated with academic SC.…

This study focused on the transition in memory between conceptual knowledge formation and procedural knowledge development. The first variable--display time interval--controlled the amount of instructional display time of each interrogatory example; the second variable--content sequence--sequenced examples according to response-sensitive decision…

Female tenth graders (n=217) were less likely than male tenth graders (n=219) to identify missing or irrelevant information in algebra problems. Female eleventh graders (n=234) were less likely than male eleventh graders (n=287) to solve problems with irrelevant information. Results indicate sex differences in knowledge of problem structure. (SLD)

Data from 877 3rd, 7th, and 11th graders substantiated the multidimensionality of academic self-concept, as based on the Shavelson model, but yielded no support for increasing differentiation across age. Data also determined minor deterioration of hierarchical structure for early and late adolescents but no progressive pattern of weakening across…

A previously proposed structural model of the theory of educational productivity of H. J. Walberg was tested for science achievement and attitude with a national probability sample of 2,535 tenth graders from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth. Results support a mediated effects representation of the productivity model. (SLD)

The assumption that learners are the best judges of learning needs in computer-assisted instruction was tested by assigning 55 eleventh graders to learner-control or program-control conditions. Results indicate that efficiency of the learner-control strategy cannot be taken for granted and emphasize the importance of prior knowledge. (SLD)

Forty-five boys and 45 girls in grades 5, 8, and 11 from schools for academically gifted students and 90 students in the same grades from regular schools described their uses of 14 self-regulated learning strategies and estimated their verbal and mathematical efficacy. Results support a triadic view of self-regulated learning. (SLD)