This volume is an attempt to synthesize the understandings we have about reading to learn. Although learning at all ages is discussed in this volume, the main focus is on middle and high school classrooms--critical spaces of learning and thinking. The amount of knowledge presented in written form is increasing, and the information we get from texts is often conflicting. We are in a knowledge explosion that leaves us reeling and may effectively disenfranchise those who are not keeping up. There has never been a more crucial time for students to understand, learn from, and think critically about the information in various forms of text. Thus, understanding what it means to learn is vital for all educators. Learning from text is a complex matter that includes student factors (social, ethnic, and cultural differences, as well as varying motivations, self-perceptions, goals, and needs); instructional and teacher factors; and disciplinary and social factors. One important goal of the book is to encourage practicing teachers to learn to consider their students in new ways--to see them as being influenced by, and as influencing, not just the classroom but the total fabric of the disciplines they are learning. Equally important, it is intended to foster further research efforts--from local studies of classrooms by teachers to large-scale studies that produce generalizable understandings about learning from text. This volume--a result of the editor's and contributors' work with the National Reading Research Center--will be of interest to all researchers, graduate students, practicing teachers, and teachers in training who are interested in understanding the issues that are central to improving students' learning from text.

Conceptual change research investigates the processes through which learners substantially revise prior knowledge and acquire new concepts. Tracing its heritage to paradigms and paradigm shifts made famous by Thomas Kuhn, conceptual change research focuses on understanding and explaining learning of the most the most difficult and counter-intuitive concepts. Now in its second edition, the International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change provides a comprehensive review of the conceptual change movement and of the impressive research it has spawned on students’ difficulties in learning. In thirty-one new and updated chapters, organized thematically and introduced by Stella Vosniadou, this volume brings together detailed discussions of key theoretical and methodological issues, the roots of conceptual change research, and mechanisms of conceptual change and learner characteristics. Combined with chapters that describe conceptual change research in the fields of physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and health, and history, this handbook presents writings on interdisciplinary topics written for researchers and students across fields.

This comprehensive professional resource and text is based on cutting-edge research. In each chapter, leading scholars provide an overview of a particular aspect of comprehension, offer best-practice instructional guidelines and policy recommendations, present key research questions still to be answered, and conclude with stimulating questions for individual study or discussion. Coverage includes such timely topics as differentiated instruction, technology and reading comprehension, teaching English language learners, and the implications of current neuroscientific findings.

The Model of Domain Learning is the first edited volume to provide a comprehensive overview of the Model of Domain Learning (MDL). Unique in its emphasis on development, this model examines both the cognitive and motivational forces behind expertise in academic domains. Chapters written by a variety of scholars, including those responsible for the model’s evolution, are tied together by commentaries that synthesize these varied perspectives. With dedicated sections focused on the foundations, current applications, and future potential of the MDL, this book is indispensable as an introduction to the theory and research associated with this topic and as a cutting-edge resource for established scholars.

This series presents substantial results from around the globe in selected areas of educational research. The field of education is consistently on the top of priority lists of every country in the world, yet few educators are aware of the progress elsewhere. Many techniques, programs and methods are directly applicable across borders. This series attempts to shed light on successes wherever they may occur in the hope that many wheels need not be reinvented again and again.

In Volume III, as in Volumes I and II, the classic topics of reading are included--from vocabulary and comprehension to reading instruction in the classroom--and, in addition, each contributor was asked to include a brief history that chronicles the legacies within each of the volume's many topics. However, on the whole, Volume III is not about tradition. Rather, it explores the verges of reading research between the time Volume II was published in 1991 and the research conducted after this date. The editors identified two broad themes as representing the myriad of verges that have emerged since Volumes I and II were published: (1) broadening the definition of reading, and (2) broadening the reading research program. The particulars of these new themes and topics are addressed.

This book investigates the three pivotal points of text for foreign language acquisition: reception, construction and deconstruction. In Part One, the focus is on various aspects of text reception, such as developing literacy, text interest, and perceptions of the academic register or the assessment of spoken language in educational contexts. Part Two deals with various aspects of composing text, such as author identity, lexical constructs or collaborative web-based writing. Lastly, Part Three presents the various segmental items that constitute text, like lexical clustering, L1/L2 relationship, classroom talk as text, etc. The division corresponds with what can be viewed as a logical sequence of text-related processes reflected in formal learning and teaching environments.