A meta-analysis was conducted of 107 classroom and laboratory studies concerning the effects of expecting a recall, recognition, essay, multiple-choice, or true-false test on students' subsequent achievement. Laboratory studies did not generalize well to classrooms. In classroom studies, subjects performed better when they knew which test type to…

Research on classroom questioning by teachers is reviewed from a sociolinguistic perspective, focusing on context, content, and responses and reactions by speakers. It is argued that research on questioning has generally failed to recognize that classroom questions represent mutual constructions of teachers and students, rather than solely teacher…

Theoretical and research literature on learning from books, television, computers, and multimedia environments is examined. The media are distinguished by cognitively relevant characteristics of their technologies, symbol systems, and processing capabilities. The relative cognitive effects of learning with different media--particularly those…

The multisource approach to learning, based on the approach of F. C. Bartlett (1932), is discussed as an introduction to five articles on the approach. The assumptions of simplification by isolation and by integration; and the emphases on the various processes, as opposed to structures, of learning are discussed. (TJH)

The assumption that learning is the internalization of externally available knowledge is criticized as undermining the creative and multisource nature of learning. Learning is defined as the creative reconceptualization of internal knowledge. Two sources of internal self-regulation are proposed: one regulating the sequential and one coordinating…

Issues that must be addressed to develop a cognitive multisource learning theory for educational research are addressed. It is proposed that a constitutive problem for educational learning theory is the explanation of difficult learning. A unit of analysis, called a "contextual module," is applied to this problem. (TJH)

Three rationales that have been offered for denying disciplinary status to legal writing as a component of law school curricula are analyzed. It is argued that legal writing deserves such status. Ways in which increased diversity in inquiry modes support the development of legal writing instructional theory are illustrated. (SLD)

Analyses of the results of 23 reports on coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) indicated that, on the average, coaching can help increase SAT scores. The considerable variability in the results of 48 studies reflected the many factors influencing coaching effectiveness and the wide variety of study designs. (SLD)

This paper contends that weaknesses of the best-evidence synthesis conducted by R. E. Slavin concluding that ability grouping in secondary school has no effects on student achievement are ignoring instructional and curricular differences; relying almost solely on standardized test scores; and relying too heavily on experimental research. (SLD)

Criticisms by M. T. Hallinan concerning Slavin's work are considered. Unambiguous indicators of instructional quality in different ability groups are difficult to obtain, and student achievement, measured by standardized tests, is an adequate indicator. Slavin's research provides no evidence of student achievement advantage from ability grouping.…

Reviews new techniques for dealing with the problem that slight departures from normality can substantially lower power when means are compared and that a popular measure of effect size can be misleading. Contemporary ways of comparing groups can reveal important differences that are missed by conventional methods based on means. (SLD)

Two models are presented, which depict dropping out as a developmental process that may begin in the earliest grades. The frustration-self-esteem model focuses on school failure and student rejection of or by a school. The participation-identification model focuses on student involvement in schooling, with behavioral and emotional components. (TJH)

This literature review discusses factors affecting women's participation and achievement in formal education systems in the Third World and factors contributing to gender inequalities in education. Cultural, social, and economic factors are identified; and recommendations for the expansion and improvement research are made. (TJH)

A meta-analysis of studies conducted between 1974 and mid-1987 on sex differences in mathematical tasks is presented. Methods used include estimations of: (1) parameters for a random effects model, and (2) coefficients for a linear-regression equation, all based on effect sizes calculated from each study. Differences have been decreasing. (TJH)

A descriptive analysis of research practices and a meta-analysis of control group effect sizes are used to address Hawthorne effects in educational experiments. The analysis of 86 studies and 256 treatment/Hawthorne/no-treatment control group effect size comparisons indicate that artifact controls have limited utility in dealing with the Hawthorne…