Three experiments involving 102 college students examined the impact of knowledge map configuration on acquisition of information. Variations in spatial configuration, map format, and link structure affected encoding and retrieval of information. These effects were mediated by the users' spatial and verbal abilities. (SLD)

Four experiments with 132 seventh graders, 162 eighth graders, 75 fourth graders, and 52 third graders compared the mnemonic keyword method with various other vocabulary learning strategies. Mnemonic keyword students outperformed sentence-context and free-study counterparts and generally outperformed others on tests of vocabulary usage. (SLD)

Task-related talk, reading comprehension, and metacognition of 219 third grade students were examined over a 4-week period in classrooms assigned to reward (encouragement through team recognition) or strategy (discussions directed toward task content) conditions. The role of task related talk and efficacy of focusing strategies are discussed. (SLD)

Research with 1,266 Australian secondary school students supports 2 propositions critical to the motive-strategy congruence model of J. B. Biggs (1985). Students tend to use learning strategies congruent with motivation for learning, and congruent motive-strategy combinations are associated with higher average school grades. (SLD)

Effects of acquisition of a problem-solving model on the ability to transfer to analogous problems in different domains were studied with 210 undergraduates who solved a biology problem and a transfer problem. Beneficial effects of the problem-solving model and implications for instructional strategies are discussed. (SLD)

The role of a subject's conceptual knowledge in the procedural task of searching a text for information was studied for 51 college undergraduates in 2 experiments involving knowledge of anatomy. Students with more anatomical information were able to search a text more quickly. Educational implications are discussed. (SLD)

Predictions of a model of instructional feedback were tested as 117 undergraduates read a text, rated certitudes, and received feedback at varying speeds. Results support the hypothesized relationship between certitude and the probability of correctly answering posttest questions, but not between certitude and durability (maintaining a response…

Thirty-seven second, 41 fourth, and 46 sixth graders were tested on low-level subcomponents of reading efficiency and high-level text comprehension to assess the relationship between the two parameters. High-level comprehension does not depend on efficiency of lexical access processes, but verbal memory span is important in high-level…

Associations between performance-oriented and structure-oriented tasks in elementary school mathematics instruction and achievement were studied for 33 third grade classrooms. A mathematics pretest and posttest were administered, and classroom observations were conducted. Results suggest that performance-oriented tasks promote automatization of…

Two experiments with 129 college undergraduates tested the conjoint retention model by having subjects learn an intact map and text and then see the map as a retrieval cue in its original or reorganized form. Subjects remember more when cued by the original, supporting the conjoint retention theory. (SLD)

The impact of frequency of classroom testing on achievement was studied for nearly 2,000 tenth grade male biology students in Saudi Arabia tested monthly or semimonthly. Students tested more often outperformed others on end-of-semester and delayed recall (three months) tests. (SLD)

Delay and completeness of verbal information feedback were investigated within a transfer of learning paradigm involving concept formation. An experiment with 192 undergraduates indicates that, although delay of feedback (up to 30 seconds) slows speed of learning on the initial task, it has positive effects on the transfer task. (SLD)

The ability of 78 disabled and nondisabled second, third, and fourth graders to discriminate between syllables that were vowels and syllables beginning with liquid and plosive consonants was studied. The results suggest that children with reading disabilities experience a deficit in processing phonemic information within syllables. (SLD)

The influence of matched and unmatched application adjunct questions on the acquisition of problem-solving skills from a prose passage was studied for 78 undergraduates. Unmatched application questions produced superior problem solving, classification of novel examples (CNE), and recall of concept definitions. Matched application questions…

The history of motivational research in education is traced through the "Encyclopedia of Educational Research." Major trends are documented, including (1) the drive concept; (2) the motivation-learning distinction; (3) individual differences; and (4) the emergence of cognitive concerns and the self. Current and future trends are discussed. (SLD)