Showing papers on "Meaningful learning published in 1977"

The facilitation of meaningful verbal learning in the classroom 1

Abstract: The assimilation theory of meaningful verbal learning and retention and the distinctions between rote and meaningful learning and between reception and discovery learning are reviewed in the light of some recent research on advance organizers, adjunct questions, and cognitive style. An attempt is made to reply to some of the frequently‐made criticisms of the author's research methodology in his studies of advance organizers and retroactive interference in meaningful prose learning and retention. Finally, an assessment is made of freedom of psychological inquiry in the United States and of equality of access to APA journals; and it is suggested that the neobehavioristic orientation in American school learning theory has been artificially kept alive by editorial bias on the part of APA journals, by neobehavioristic bias on the part of reviewers for research funding agencies, and by implicit pressures exerted on graduate students in educational psychology doctoral programs.

The Use of Advance Organizers in the Learning and Retention of Logical Operations and Social Studies Concepts

Abstract: Ausubel predicts that prior learning of subject-matter concepts, at a higher level of abstraction than subsequent experienced materials, facilitates meaningful learning. He recommends that higher-order concepts be presented in “advance organizer” lessons with the emphasis on meaningful reception learning. Ausubel does not clearly distinguish between subject-matter and process concepts. In this study, process concepts are identified in terms of those logical operations involved in hierarchical classification as described by Piaget. It was predicted that the acquisition of prior high-order rules for hierarchical classification (process concepts) and high-order social studies subject-matter concepts would facilitate the learning and retention of subsequently presented logical operations and the conceptual structure of selected social studies learning materials. Both 6 year olds (N = 60) and 10 year olds (N = 60) were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In two related phases of this experime...

Interspersed Meaningful Learning Questions as Semantic Cues for Poor Comprehenders.

Abstract: GOOD AND POOR COMPREHENDERS (fifth grade children, N = 93) read an 800-word passage and after every 2 paragraphs received either a meaningful learning question requiring the organization of facts under given concepts, a rote learning question requiring literal recall of passage information, or no adjunct question of any kind. For most measures of text recall, good comprehenders recalled more than the poor comprehenders; and the type of treatment presented did not have a significant (p > .05) effect. For poor comprehenders, however, meaningful learning post questions yielded significantly (p < .05) greater recall of facts from the question-related paragraphs than did rote learning post questions or no questions of any type. On the measure of recall of subordinate material, the performance of the poor comprehenders given meaningful learning post questions did not differ significantly from that of the good comprehenders, regardless of the kind of treatment the latter received.

Measures of meaningful learning of intellectual skills

Abstract: The results reported in the previous section indicated that the Flexibility and Application scales measured different aspects or dimensions of performance on transfer tasks; these results have suggested that meaningful learning may be particularly related to the flexible dimension of performance. Although the Blind Application Index may not measure a separate aspect of transfer performance, it is nonetheless a useful scale, as it gives a succinct description of an interesting aspect of behaviour—the “non-meaningful” learning of a solution rule.

Guided Discovery for Children's Learning of Number Concepts.

Abstract: MF-$0.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage. *Cognitive Development; Learning; Memory; *Number Concepts; Observational Learning; *Preschool Children; *Recall (Psychological); Research Methodology; *Retention Studies; Training; *Transfer of Training These experiments tested the hypothesis that an instructional strategy involving guided discovery will promote meaningful learning of problem solving concepts by activating an assimilative set during learning. In order to investigate the effect of discovery training and concrete manipulation, preschool children were given training in one to one correspondence. In the first study (involving 19 subjects) a discovery method was compared to a matched expository wethod, both of which involved active manipulation of objects. The second study* (involving 24 subjects) replicated the first study using different materials and included a third group (observation training) in which subjects did not manipulate objects. The learning outcomes were evaluated by tests of short-term recall, short-term traLsfer, long-term recall and long-term transfer. Performance on the posttests administered by a Kblindu experimenter 'revealed a pattern in which groups did not differ on short-term recall but the discovery group excelled on far transfer (conservation) and delayed recall. The effect of guided discovery on the acquisition of broader learning outcomes was discussed. (MS) *********************************************************************** * * * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) . EDRS is not * * responsible for the quality of the original dooument. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** e 11 u S DEPARTMENT OF HEAL IN DUCATION 4 WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION ,,..s OtA LOOTNT tIAS bEEN IT EPNO..,K1 0 f $(4( IL Y AS RECEv.E0 FROM .,9E PERSON oRONCA10ZAToONOWICIN AT.N4 ,T POINTS OF vIEW OR OPFHONS STATED b0 NOT NE:EssAR,Lv REPRE %EN roc c(IAL NATIONAL ,NSTITUTE or Env(' ATION pOs,T.oN OIT T.Ot tCv Guided Discovery for Children's Learning of Number Concepts