The authors review research on effective practices in secondary schools with relevance for secondary teachers of learning disabled students. Three elements appear to be related to student learning: time for student learning, teacher-student interaction, and lesson structure. Research on each of these elements is reviewed and suggestions made for…

In this study on the interactive effects of advance organizers and reasoning skills, 112 undergraduates read a literature text preceded by either a comparative advance organizer or a placebo introduction. Results suggest that instructional organizers produce neither serious loss nor substantial benefits for many purposes of communication. (BS)

The main findings of a meta-analysis of 23 research reports were the following: giving behavioral objectives, learning directions, or questions before an instructional text is read leads to some improvement in the learning of goal relevant material; however, these preinstructional acts impede the learning of goal irrelevant materials. (Author/BW)

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of using advance organizers in instruction at the graduate level. Participants were 218 graduate students in research methodology courses. Fifty-four students were enrolled in sections in which advance and post organizers were used; 164 were enrolled in sections in which this type of instruction…

The existing literature on reading comprehension instruction is organized and reviewed. The authors question whether explicit training to improve comprehension or monitoring strategies should be offered, since these behaviors improve with maturity and experience and in the absence of any apparent training, but conclude that it is possible that…

Reviews the guidelines for the construction of an advance organizer as proposed by David Ausubel and examines why the term has so many possible definitions. (FL)

Explains how a teacher taught his class the value of skimming in developing reading comprehension. (FL)

Suggests specific reading strategies for college level learners based on a thorough analysis of how successful college readers handle difficult text. (AEA)

Focuses on what sixth-grade students know about the organizational features of prose and whether the use of specific organizational patterns (top-level structures) facilitates written recall of expository prose. (HOD)

Describes a note taking and teaching strategy designed to help students think during lectures and assimilate material in a synthesized form via small group and written recapitulation. (MKM)

A review of four studies conducted by Ausubel raises serious doubts about the efficacy of advance organizers under a variety of circumstances. In addition, this review questions the adequacy of definitions for two central notions of subsumption theory (discriminability and advance organizer). (IAH)

Discusses the extent to which computers can understand natural language. Considers assertions that computers can be described as literate, and considers more generally the purpose of designing machines which perform like humans. (RS)

The study found that an interactive vocabulary instructional strategy, semantic-feature analysis, significantly improved the social studies content area text comprehension of 25 learning disabled adolescents. Prior to reading the text, students receiving the experimental instruction completed a relationship chart relating important ideas to key…

Two hypotheses about how organizational signals influence text recall were tested with 274 college students who read and recalled a text with or without signals. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that organizational signals induce readers to change their text-processing strategies. (Author/SLD)

Summarizes a study which explored the development, trial, and implementation of the Content Production Process (CPP) which was designed to assist instructional designers in eliciting and conceptualizing unfamiliar content from subject matter experts. Highlights include advance organizers, schema theory, consultation practices, knowledge…