To produce maximum learning achievement, parents and teachers can take five basic steps: (1) finding a simple approach to mastery learning; (2) improving learning conditions at the beginning of sequential courses; (3) improving the home study environment; (4) helping students develop "automatic" reading skills; and (5) stressing higher mental…

The determination of the extent to which generalizations derived from studies of rote verbal learning, particularly paired-associate learning applied to highly meaningful materials, was the focus of this study. It was found that discriminating tags to synonyms and antonyms permitting the application of appropriate transfer rules may be attached.…

Literacy, accompanied by the freedom to choose what one reads, could work wonders in Haiti. (Author/IR)

Evaluates the effect of question type (rote, conceptual) and adjunct question response mode (multiple choice, short answer) on rote and conceptual learning outcomes of 98 undergraduate high and low ability readers. Results indicate rote adjunct questions are more helpful to readers and high reading ability students demonstrate better test…

The kind of semantic information that facilitates relearning was investigated. The paradigm consisted of three stages: (1) learn a list of number-word pairs; (2) return for a retention test; and (3) relearn a new list of pairs that have various kinds of semantic relatedness to the originally learned pairs. (Author/CTM)

Describes the use of past educational experiences and resulting attitudes to illustrate effective teaching methods to students in social studies methods courses. Positive memories center around a hands-on approach, whereas negative memories focused on memorization and rote learning. (LS)

Discusses what Western nations could learn from Japan's educational system. Negative features include (1) rote learning; (2) standardization of materials taught; (3) government control of textbooks; and (4) an examination system that does not promote individualism. Positive features include the high value placed on education and the work ethic.…

A study sought to ascertain the "official" conception of numeracy in Scotland as published in Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) audit reports. 300 HMI reports on 300 primary schools were examined for references to computational proficiency and understanding of number. Segments signifying proficiency were significantly more numerous than…

Teachers and students use multimedia software to create interactive presentations and content projects. Popular multimedia programs include: Microsoft's PowerPoint[R], Knowledge Adventure's HyperStudio[R], and Macromedia's Director MX 2004[R]. Creating multimedia projects engage students in active learning and thinking as they complete projects…

Every spring, education-related newspaper and magazine stories raise the alarm that schools are "teaching to the test." Scores of articles and editorials paint a disheartening picture of frustrated teachers forced to abandon good instructional practices for a relentless stream of worksheets based on boring, repetitive test-preparation…

The current preoccupation in the United States with test-based accountability is founded on a set of faulty assumptions--about education practices elsewhere in the world, about international test score comparisons, and about the extent to which test scores are valid indicators of the quality of education or the state of the economy. For example,…

Lower class black and lower class white first-grade children learned an unorganized and an organized list of words to test Jensen's hypothesis of racial differences in mental abilities. Both groups of children performed significantly better on the organized list with comparable means for each list. Most of the predicted relationships were not…

Myth is integral to modern as well as ancient societies in its service to multiple interrelated social functions. Among these are to explain phenomena and direct action, to justify particular interests or practices, to dramatize ideals, and to provide cultural cohesion. Three prevailing myths that are especially problematic are the myths of…

Based on a comparison between two types of questions reflecting a distinction among various levels of learning--verbatim or rote and high order or meaningful--it is hypothesized that meaningful learning postquestions would facilitate retention more than rote-learning postquestions. (RC)