Carol A. Carrier

A Test of One Learner-Control Strategy With Students of Differing Levels of Task Persistence

One hundred fourteen sixth graders participated in a study designed to test the effects of a learner-control strategy involving choice of elaborative material in a computer-based tutorial. An Options treatment in which children were allowed to choose a variety of types of elaborative material was contrasted with two program-control treatments, including one in which all the elaborative material from the Options treatment was mandatory (Full treatment) and the other in which students saw only a core presentation but no elaborative material (Lean treatment). A second variable in the study was level of task persistence. Four levels of task persistence were created based on initial task behavior. Students within each of these four task persistence groups were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. A multivariate repeated measures analysis of covariance (using reading ability as the covariate) was conducted on immediate and retention posttests. Results showed that under both program-control treatments, persistence was curvilinearly related to performance; that is, extremely high and low persistence groups performed more poorly than did medium persistence groups. Under the learner-control treatment, however, the highest task persistence groups performed best. Additionally, when amount of material seen was controlled for, the learner-control treatment group outperformed the program-control groups.

The effects of notetaking: A review of studies

Taking notes from oral and written verbal presentations is commonly accepted as a useful strategy for increasing retention of information. High schools and colleges frequently offer notetaking courses-including instruction in extracting critical points from a lecture, formatting information, and using abbreviation notation-as part of a study skills sequence. The availability of these resources testifies to the intuitive belief that learning will be facilitated if the student manipulates incoming information by way of the notetaking process. Research literature on notetaking falls into two broad categories. The first includes descriptions and analyses of various styles of notes and the perceived benefits and limitations of each. In this category are studies by authors such as Aaronson (1975) and Palmatier (1970, 1971, 1974) who generally assume that notetaking is useful and concentrate on teaching people to become better notetakers. In the second category of writings (and those of major interest here) are empirical studies which focus on notetaking as a vehicle for illuminating the processes of learning from verbal materials-coding, storage, and retrieval. A major focus of the second category of studies might best be described as a “product versus process” dichotomy. That is, investigators disagree over which property of notetaking best accounts for its utility. Some contend that the process of taking notes is the critical factor. This viewpoint suggests that notetaking stimulates encoding processes in the learner, which increases the likelihood that the material to be learned will be meaningfully coded and stored during input. Transforming the material through associating, chunking, or coding (DiVesta, 1972) will be encouraged by the demands of extracting, summarizing, and organizing incoming information. If notetaking is viewed as one class of mathemagenic activities, then several other theoretical explanations for its utility exist. Peper and Mayer (1978) discuss three of these theoretical frameworks. 1. Notetaking may increase general attentional processes, leading to a greater concentration on the material to be learned. 2. Notetaking will encourage the student to process the material at a more meaningful or deeper level; thus the degree of energy or effort devoted to the new material may lead to greater learning.

Notetaking Research: Implications for the Classroom.

The study of student notetaking behaviors has produced useful insights into how students learn from lectures. This article presents five preliminary conclusions about notetaking practices based on findings from the notetaking literature. Each conclusion is followed by a discussion of the implications for classroom instruction. Finally, the author proposes links between various lecturer and student behaviors and the external events of instruction described by Gagne and Briggs (1979).

Effects of Notetaking Pretraining and Test Mode Expectations on Learning from Lectures

Effects of pretraining subjects to use a notetaking system while listening to a lecture were compared with those of giving subjects no pretraining. A second variable was test mode expectation: One-third of the subjects were told they would be given a multiple-choice test; another third of the subjects, an essay test; the final third were told only that they would be tested. A 35-item objective test was given immediately after the lecture and a free recall test was given one week after the lecture. The design was a 2 × 3 factorial with a total of 100 high school students serving as subjects. ANOVAs on performance scores for the objective and free recall tests and scores reflecting the efficiency of the notes themselves showed several significant interactions between the two independent variables. From this study and others, recommendations for educators who wish to improve the notetaking skills of students are included.

Instructional Options and Encouragement Effects in a Microcomputer-Delivered Concept Lesson.

AbstractThirty-seven sixth graders were assigned to one of two computer-based treatments to learn about the propaganda coordinate concepts of bandwagon, transfer, testimonial, and repetition. In both treatments, students were allowed to choose to see additional instruction in the form of paraphrased definitions, additional expository and practice instances, and analytical feedback. In one treatment, general statements of encouragement to select options were included. In the second treatment, no such encouragement was included. Scores on the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test and the Internal Achievement Rating Survey were collected for all students. Students who were shown encouragement statements did elect to see more options than did those without encouragement statements. No differences were found on the posttest scores for the two groups. Consistent with findings from earlier studies, students who chose to see one type of option also chose to see other types.

USE OF SELF-GENERATED AND SUPPLIED VISUALS AS MNEMONICS IN GIFTED CHILDREN'S LEARNING

In accordance with ancient belief and recent research, we hypothesized that self-generated imagery techniques of gifted children would be superior to supplied (experimenter-provided) visuals in facilitating recall and recognition on a memory task. 27 high-potential students in Grades 4 to 6 were divided into three treatment groups to investigate the effects of rote repetition, self-generated visualization, and supplied visuals on the memorization of concrete noun-word pairs. Perhaps because even gifted children do not know how to construct good visual images without training and practice, our hypothesis was not supported. The supplied visual condition produced significantly better results than did either of the other treatment conditions, implying that the utilization of appropriate techniques helps gifted children learn certain memory tasks. However, one wonders if effective instruction in the development of self-generated mnemonic techniques might not be of greater benefit to young learners of such tasks.

Supplied Visuals and Imagery Instructions in Field Independent and Field Dependent Children's Recall.

Does showing children pictures that depict a story help them recall story content? Is having them form mental pictures of the story more effective? Is it better to show the pictures or give instructions to form mental images before or after the children hear the story? Do field independent and field dependent children respond differently? This study involving sixth graders found that imaging was the most effective method of instruction, regardless of whether instructions to image came before or after the listening period.

Levels of questions: A framework for the exploration of processing activities

Abstract This article examines the research on different levels of questions inserted in prose. The first section defines the level of questions and presents a number of theoretical issues important to the research. The second section discusses a number of methodological issues which arise in the studies, such as inadequate directions to subjects. The final section provides recommendations for further research.

A First Meeting of Professors of Educational Technology: A Summary of Issues

SummaryThe first meeting of professors of educational technology met the objectives of its organizers. A forum was created in which the issues which affect our lives as professors working in a dynamic and innovative field were discussed and debated. Participants took a break from the day-to-day activities at their respective institutions to think more globally about problems affecting the field, especially those which relate to the training of students. Action items were generated which will give direction to future activities for the group. Old friendships were renewed and new friendships begun. It is these personal linkages that will keep folks communicating and it will be this communication that will generate new ways to work together on productive tasks in the upcoming months. Not a bad outcome for a weekend in the woods.

Coordinate Status Consultation: A Strategy for Instructional Improvement.

College and university instructional development programs frequently rely on seminars and workshops as methods for assisting faculty. Group formats alone are unlikely to provide the individual assistance faculty need to explore problems in their unique teaching environments. An alternative approach is coordinate status consultation in which a faculty member and teaching improvement consultant collaborate to address the faculty member’s concerns. The faculty member brings his knowledge of his content area and his teaching environment to the relationship. The consultant provides his expertise in examining teaching concerns and facilitating change. This paper defines coordinate status consultation, summarizes its conceptual bases, describes the major phases in the consultation process, and provides an example to illustrate its use.