An analysis was made of the strategies by which tutors adapt their teaching to individual students; the objective was to synthesize these strategies in a computer system called SCHOLAR. Tape recordings of dialogues between tutors and students about South American geography were made to discover the strategies used by tutors. Since SCHOLAR is a…

Ten reference works for assistance in improving instruction cover such topics as note-taking, student learning styles, learning theories, examinations, lecturing, student cognitive processes, improving student attention, teaching for critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. (MSE)

Reports on a seminar conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which was designed to help teachers develop their understanding of learning and teaching arithmetic. Describes some of the sessions and the activities and includes some of the dialogue exchanged within the group during the sessions. (TW)

Description of a study which formulated a model of the cognitive processes involved in learning statistics material via computer assisted learning (CAL) focuses on mode of presentation (aural or visual), sequence of the material, and previous mathematical experience. Textual analysis is discussed and implications of the results for design of CAL…

Describes a study of the mental processes college students use in thinking about speed. Piagetian-type tasks dealing with speed, time, and distance were used in an individual interview format. Males outperformed females on tasks relating to speed, but not on the other tasks. (TW)

Describes a process-tracing study which investigated study approaches adopted by four distance learners enrolled in the Bachelor of Education Program at James Cook University and their mental processes when learning from distance-teaching materials in order to identify textual features which activated mental processes for use in textual design.…

The foreign language teaching process depends on making various choices regarding materials, approaches, and activities. This decision-making process is analyzed, the needs behind it examined, and a decision hierarchy developed. A model is suggested for teacher education that incorporates this hierarchy into preservice, inservice, and graduate…

After discussing task-specific information and form/content dissociation, presents evidence from training studies which suggests ways in which the form/content distinction might guide researchers in designing diagnostic measures leading to specific instructional strategies based on the diagnostics. (Author/JN)

Research developments in cognitive psychology, and their implications for teaching and learning at the level of professional education, are summarized. Areas discussed include organization of long-term memory, influences on storage and retrieval from memory, problem solving and transfer/use of analogy, concept formation/categorization/pattern…

A four-phase study identified factors in teaching excellence, compared the teaching strategies of university faculty across disciplines, and compared these with the learning processes of students in their first and third years. Results suggest excellent professors prefer a deep approach to teaching, incongruent with students' more common surface…

Advocates adapting a postmodernist approach to history instruction. This would mandate recognizing the subjectivity of all knowledge including the historical record. Recommends embracing this subjectivity and focusing less on history as a subject and more on the development of critical-thinking skills. (MJP)

Briefly reviews the research literature concerning the overjustification effect. The effect describes the situation where positive reinforcement reduces one's intrinsic motivation for a behavior, thereby decreasing the probability that the behavior will be repeated. Notes the limitations of this explanation and recommends a broader representation…

Maintains that psychology courses attract students who are interested in using their knowledge of human behavior in their professional and personal lives. Describes four approaches used in a developmental psychology course to differentiate between experimental and observational research. Discusses implications of the approaches. (CFR)

Maintains that considerable evidence suggests that educators can successfully use knowledge of cognitive development to guide college instruction. Discusses thinking processes as either primarily incidental or deliberate. Contends that separate thinking based on these principles leads to improved critical thinking skills. (CFR)

Describes the results of a nine-week inquiry-oriented student teaching program designed to help preservice teachers become reflective practitioners. Five program components were teaching, supervisory conferences, seminars, journal writing, and action research. Results indicated that teachers grew in reflective thinking practices when programs…