The aim of the study was to examine reading and writing tasks as learning tools in higher education in Spain. The participants were 171 undergraduates from three different university degree courses. The data were gathered through a questionnaire that explored the kind of tasks carried out by the students, their perception of different aspects of…

Describes a way to teach summarization that can be applied to all content areas, and explains the factors that make it effective. Includes written guidelines to follow as the class learns how to write summaries. Notes that a formal test of these classroom procedures showed that repeated references and generalization were both effective in…

Presents three types of simple events knowledge models: (1) a simple list of events; (2) a list of cause-effect sequences; and (3) a list of events that describe a problem and its solution. (SR)

Defines and describes the processes by which students acquire new knowledge: accretion, tuning, and restructuring. Relates these processes to knowledge models presented in earlier columns. Discusses extension activities. (RS)

Considers event phenomena and how such phenomena might be understood in terms of process knowledge models. Presents the step and stage process knowledge model, the classification process knowledge model, and the conditional process knowledge model. (SR)

This study examined the learning tactics and knowledge representations used by five high school students with blindness while attempting to acquire information from text (presented in either Braille or audiotape). Tactics included re-reading; summarizing in writing, mentally, or orally; identifying ideas; and elaborating with mental images.…

Defines the Graphic Organizer Notebook as a collection of teacher-developed blank webs and organizers for a student to complete after reading chunks of content material taught in a unit. Concludes that implementing the Graphic Organizer Notebook in a content area unit enables teachers to teach reading, writing, and study skill strategies meeting…

Whatever grade level, content, or texts that educators teach, their ultimate goal is to develop their students' understanding of what they read. The 29 articles in this anthology were published in "The Reading Teacher" from 1993 to 1999 and offer ideas to help students comprehend different types of texts and literacies, from technology…

Research has informed educators about the value of preparing students for reading in the content areas, but how do teachers begin the complicated task of planning effective prereading activities that maximize their students' learning? This book provides practical activities that promote the learning of adolescents in their daily work in content…

A good vocabulary is one of the major building blocks for success in reading, and every content area has vocabulary to master. This book offers K-12 classroom teachers proven techniques for effective vocabulary instruction. The learning strategies described in the book will help students develop thinking skills that involve analysis, comparison…

Examined strategies reported by students during reading to develop knowledge in their area of professional training. Discovered the reading, encoding, self-regulation, and resource management strategies used most often by students, which were not sufficient to attain effective learning. Less frequently used strategies added nuances to the…

Presents strategies designed to provide students with an organizational pattern to help them generate clear thinking, reading, and writing. (RS)

Discusses helping students understand cases and classes through knowledge modeling. Discusses classification and human cognition, and classification and pictorial knowledge models. Provides classroom extension activities. (SR)

Describes the goals and nature of school mathematics reform and the philosophy and nature of the constructivist classroom. Suggests that math teachers who are interested in creating reformed classrooms can look to constructivist theories of learning and content-area literacy theories and methods to provide the structure needed to make reform…

This study examines second-term and second-year persistence of 19,489 freshmen at American River College (ARC), a large, urban, public community college near Sacramento, California. Academic and non-academic characteristics are compared between first year dropouts and those students that enroll one year after the first fall term at ARC for two…