Results are reported from a study that investigated which combinations of structural support involving embedded headings and intact outlines optimize immediate and delayed recognition as well as recall learning from videotaped instruction. Subjects were 102 college students. (IAH)

Issues related to the retrieval context set by rereading advance organizers (AOs) before recall tests were examined in six experiments with 57 seventh graders and 323 undergraduates. Only rereading the AO significantly affected recall. AO theory and a general perspective on encoding and retrieval contexts are discussed. (TJH)

Three experiments examined the effects of outlines prefacing text and headings inserted in the text on the recall of prose by 178 undergraduates. Results indicate that a combination of outlines and headings best benefit readers' recall. Results are discussed from a schema activation perspective. (SLD)

A study examined whether (1) subjects' comprehension and recall of an expository passage would improve if they were given information about the organization of the passage before they read it, (2) the effects of being given such information would be similar across various hierarchical levels of the passage, and (3) the effects would be similar…

To investigate whether a previewing technique, transferred to the television medium, enhances children's comprehension of a televised story, two studies developed a one and one-half minute edited video, designed using a variation of Ausubel's advance organizers and constructed to provide children with a brief overview of the basic plot structure…

Given the general agreement that learning of texts is facilitated by learners using relevant concepts or schemata to subsume contents, a study was conducted to see if giving learners an advance organizer and requiring anticipation activity would help in the formation of new schemata and, therefore, result in the enhancement of learning. Subjects…

The comprehension and recall of instructional text is heavily dependent upon the contexts in which information input and retrieval occur. College students (N=44) recalled the contents of a hierarchically structured text immediately after study and again six weeks later. Total meaningful recall was better when the superordinate concepts, or cues,…

A study was made of the importance to reading comprehension of using the author's top-level organization or textual schema. The subjects, 102 ninth graders with high, average, and low reading comprehension scores, read expository passages, some of which included signals explicitly stating the top-level organizational structure and some of which…

The effects of advance organizers in learning unfamiliar material from logical or randomly organized texts was investigated in two experiments. Advance organizers enhanced performance on questions requiring integration of facts from different sections of the text. Results of both studies were interpreted as support for assimilation encoding…

College undergraduates read stories from one of two directed perspectives or no directed perspective. An idea's significance in terms of the assigned perspective affected both initial learning and recall one week later. Schemata, or conceptual frameworks, were assumed to aid in memory and retrieval. (Author/GDC)

Two experiments examined the effects of embedded and intact (outline) headings on the processing of complex text material by college students. Results indicated that embedded headings reliably improved delayed test performance. It was further found that instructions in the use of headings as processing aids facilitated test performance. (Author/PN)

Advance organizer effectiveness for disadvantaged seventh graders was investigated. The influence of the organizer was assessed under two testing formats: recall and recognition. The organizer was shown to be effective, regardless of the testing conditions. (Author/GK)

Reports results of two experiments to test recognition decisions of increasing difficulty among preschool children. Increasing levels of difficulty were perceptual identity, common object-class, and either taxonomic category or complementary pair formation. (Author/DB)

In order to optimize learner performance in all the conditions of learning, Gagne proposed the application of a nine-step process called the events of instruction. Events 1, 2, and 3--gaining attention, informing learners of the learning objective, and reminding learners of prerequisite skills fall within the rubric of preinstructional activities.…

To provide a test of the notion that criterial task knowledge facilitates learning and, consequently, performance in studying, a study examined the effects of an explicit prereading task directive and an explicit postreading criterion on the studying behaviors of 40 college undergraduates. After presentation of a prereading task directive prepared…