Examined relationship between cognitive requirements of two chapters of a physics textbook for biology/pre-med students and their ability to use prerequisite reasoning skills required for its understanding. An average of 42 percent of students tested did not consistently use reasoning skills required to understand text concepts. Discusses tests…

Outlines a simple classroom demonstration that illustrates Piagetian conservation. Piagetian conservation refers to the illusion of an increase in mass by changing an object's form. This demonstration, done by forming an ellipse with an extension cord, shows that college students are as susceptible to this effect as are young children. (MJP)

Identifies three common "channels" through which student-writers are inducted into the critical thinking practice via advanced writing courses. Argues that critical thinking is a socio-cognitive practice drawing on cultural norms shared by mainstream students, a process not open to students of English as a Second Language. (100…

Reports on a study that investigated possible effects of visual information on non-music students' cognitive responses to music. One group rated the affective response of musical excerpts from the film "Fantasia" without the accompanying video while another rated the excerpts with the video. Reveals little significant difference between…

This paper presents a French-as-a-Second-Language writing course for non-Francophone students at an advanced university level. Because this approach to teaching writing focuses on the writer (and on the reader's expectations), as well as on textuality, the organization (i.e., the architecture) of this course is as complex as writing. (32…

The locus of control, whether internal or external, is an influential concept in second-language learning. One observes it, for example, in Puerto Rican students returning to Puerto Rico to take university-level courses. Explanations address a teaching method relying on use of problems with examples in such a way as to empower students. This also…

Investigates the effects of field dependence-independence, gender, previous musical experience, and general music ability on music listening. College students recorded their observations about music excerpts. Weeks later they used these observations to identify the excerpts. Multiple regression analyses examined the contributions of subject…

A Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language learner in Taiwan was tutored online by two American preservice teachers. Discourse patterns in the student's essays were perceived very differently by the preservice teachers and the student's Taiwanese instructor. Deeper psycholinguistic analysis revealed connections between the student's linguistic…

This project sought to focus on elements of critical thinking and reflective judgement specific to the college classroom experience using the Reflective Judgment (RJ) Model developed by P. M. King and K. M. Strohm-Kitchener. The project included an exploration of college instructors' assumptions and beliefs about college students, and an…

A study in two countries investigated college students' conceptions of "academic literacy," defined as the system of information exchange or mastery of the elements of such a system. Subjects were nine students, four at Ohio State University, a long-established "mega-university," and five at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a small, newly-established…

Part of a larger research project, this descriptive study identified the range and characteristics of learning strategies used in studying foreign languages. Related studies include a course development study, in which foreign language instructors teach their students to apply learning strategies, and a longitudinal study that analyzed differences…

A study investigated what conscious listening strategies second language learners use when listening to authentic texts. Subjects were six college students of intermediate Spanish. They listened to three authentic audio and three authentic video texts. The introspective commentaries of the subjects on one of the video texts are discussed here.…

This report explores the use of videos to facilitate learning in a mathematics course for teachers developed by England's Open University. Specific video extracts are discussed from a psycho-analytic perspective on learning. The report first examines the course content and briefly discusses the use of video as a teaching tool. Then the…

A study was conducted into the operation of an interactive-compensatory model of reading. Specifically, it examined the development of context-free word recognition skills, their role in contextual reading, and the degree to which one word recognition skill might compensate another. Four word factors were examined: (1) orthographic redundancy (the…

An automated program for the reduction of test anxiety in a computer-based learning situation has been developed. Its main components are: 1) a self-study manual containing information and written exercises dealing with coping with test anxiety; 2) a videotape of modeled effective and ineffective coping with anxiety on tests; 3) a brief, modified…