Precious little guidance: Jury instruction on damage awards.

Jury instructions on damage awards are notoriously vague and ambiguous. As a result, awards are sometimes unexpected and seemingly illogical. In this article, the authors argue that jury instructions regarding damages are vague because the law of damages itself is purposefully ambiguous—allowing particularized justice across a variety of different circumstances. The authors review research on comprehension and application of substantive jury instructions related to damages and on procedural variations at trial (e.g., use of preinstruction, bifurcation, blindfolding jurors to various issues, special verdict forms, caps on damages, and instruction revision) that impact the substantive instructions that jurors receive from the judge. They comment on attempts at reforming jury instructions regarding damages and conclude that jurors' decision making on this difficult and emotional issue could be made more predictable by careful reforms at the trial level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asthma training in third-year medical students

In response to the increasing use of children's trade books in school reading programs, this article reviews the use of real text, drawing on the application and interaction of two distinct perspectives: reader response theory and comprehension instruction. The authors propose the need to combine knowledge of instruction with the new focus on the role of the reader within response theory and within comprehension research. This article suggests how comprehension instruction and response to literature activities can intersect in the classroom for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Explicit models and instructional strategies are discussed in the framework of this bimodal approach to reading. A sample list of high quality children's books, including several trade books that feature deaf or hard of hearing characters and issues, is provided as a resource for teachers.     

Guided Jury Discretion in Capital Murder Cases: The Role of Declarative and Procedural Knowledge.

This article analyzes whether state-approved jury instructions adequately guide jury discretion in the penalty phase of first-degree murder trials. It examines Eighth Amendment jurisprudence regarding guided jury discretion, emphasizing the use of "empirical factors" to examine the quality of state-approved instructions. Psychological research and testimony on the topic of the comprehensibility of jury logical instructions are reviewed. Data from a recently completed simulation with 80 deliberating juries showed that current instructions do not adequately convey the concepts and processes essential to guiding penalty phase judgments. An additional simulation with 20 deliberating juries demonstrated that deliberation alone does not correct for jurors' errors in comprehension. The article concludes with recommendations for policy and future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory: Evidence from strategy-selection tasks.

Four experiments investigated developmental changes in children's knowledge about the types of strategies that are appropriate for achieving the goals of comprehension or memorization. We assessed 1st and 3rd graders' recognition of the differential effectiveness of a memorization strategy (repetition) and a comprehension strategy (pictorial clarification of problematic words) for achieving memorization (verbatim recall of block-building instructions) or comprehension (following instructions for constructing a block building). Only 3rd graders distinguished between comprehension and memorization by consistently selecting the more effective strategy for both memorization and comprehension. Children's ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory in their strategy selections may depend, in part, on whether the context provides clear, concrete, overt, behavioral criteria for defining memorization and comprehension as distinct goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-reformulation training and visualization training with insight problems.

Two studies investigated effects of training on solution of insight problems. Two kinds of instruction were emphasized: Subjects were directed to (a) work on reformulating their initial view of the problem in order to avoid unnecessary assumptions about it, or (b) carefully visualize problem components. Training Ss received one or both of these types of instruction repeatedly in combination with practice on insight problems. Results indicate that reformulation instructions contributed to performance, but visualization instructions did not. It is suggested that a program that integrates instruction and practice can improve student proficiency with insight problems. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of list format and category headers on age differences in understanding medication instructions

We examined whether instructions are better understood and remembered when they contain organizational cues. Our previous research found that older and younger adults organize medication information in similar ways, suggesting that they have a schema for taking medication. In the present study, list formats (vs. paragraphs) emphasized the order of information and category headers emphasized the grouping of information specified by this schema. Experiment 1 examined whether list and header cues improve comprehension (answer time and accuracy) and recall for adults varying in age and working memory capacity (measured by a sentence span task). List instructions were better understood and recalled than paragraphs, and reduced age differences in answer time and span differences in accuracy. Headers reduced paragraph comprehension for participants with lower levels of working memory capacity, presumably because they were not salient cues in the paragraphs. Experiment 2 investigated if headers were more effective when more saliently placed in paragraphs and lists, and if list and header cues helped readers draw inferences from the instructions. List formats again reduced age differences in comprehension, especially reducing the time needed to draw inferences about the medication. While headers did not impair comprehension, these cues did impair recall. The present study suggests that list-organized instructions provide an environmental support that improves both older and younger adult comprehension and recall of medication information.     

Substance versus style: A new look at social desirability in motivating contexts.

Although there is an emerging consensus that social desirability does not meaningfully affect criterion-related validity, several researchers have reaffirmed the argument that social desirability degrades the construct validity of personality measures. Yet, most research demonstrating the adverse consequences of faking for construct validity uses a fake-good instruction set. The consequence of such a manipulation is to exacerbate the effects of response distortion beyond what would be expected under realistic circumstances (e.g., an applicant setting). The research reported in this article was designed to assess these issues by using real-world contexts not influenced by artificial instructions. Results suggest that response distortion has little impact on the construct validity of personality measures used in selection contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effective Reading Comprehension Instruction: Examining Child x Instruction Interactions.

This study examined the effect of 3rd-grade language arts instruction on growth in children's reading comprehension skills and the degree to which the impact of instruction depended on the language and reading skills children brought to the classroom. Classrooms were observed in the fall, winter, and spring, and language arts activities were coded using multiple dimensions of instruction. Overall, the effect of instruction depended on children's fall reading comprehension scores. Children with average to low fall reading comprehension scores achieved greater growth in classrooms with more time spent on teacher-managed reading comprehension instructional activities but demonstrated less growth in classrooms with more time spent on child-managed reading comprehension activities. Research and classroom instruction implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instruction begins in the home: Relations between parental instruction and children's self-regulation in the classroom.

The study examined the effectiveness of 3 aspects of parental instruction for predicting children's self-regulation in school. Fathers, mothers, and their children (52 families) were visited in their homes the summer before the child entered 3rd grade. Metacognitive content (task and strategy information), manner of instruction (small steps at an appropriate pace), and emotional support were coded from parents' instructions to their children for a problem-solving task. Children's self-regulatory behaviors in the classroom were assessed the following school year. Two patterns of relations were observed. Manner of instruction predicted children's attention to instructions and help-seeking in the classroom. Metacognitive content of instructions did not predict these aspects of self-regulation. In contrast, metacognitive content of instructions presented in an understandable manner with emotional support predicted children's monitoring and metacognitive talk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and reading comprehension.

To examine the relationship between knowledge of word meanings and semantic processes, 27 4th-grade children were taught 104 words over a 5-mo period. Following instruction, Ss performed tasks designed to require semantic processes ranging from single word semantic decisions to simple sentence verification and memory for connected text. On all these tasks, instructed Ss performed at a significantly higher level than controls matched on pre-instruction vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. Thus, instructed Ss gave evidence both of learning word meanings taught by the program and of being able to process instructed words more efficiently in tasks more reflective of comprehension. Implications for vocabulary instruction and the role of individual word meanings in comprehension are discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does concept-oriented reading instruction increase strategy use and conceptual learning from text?

The authors define reading engagement as the mutual support of motivations, strategies, and conceptual knowledge during reading. To increase reading engagement, a collaborative team designed a year-long integration of reading/language arts and science instruction (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction, CORI). The authors compared students who received this instruction to similar students who received traditionally organized instruction aimed toward the same objectives. A path analysis showed that CORI had a positive effect on strategy use and text comprehension for students at Grades 3 and 5 when accounting for past achievement and prior knowledge. CORI also had a positive, indirect effect on conceptual knowledge mediated by strategy use, and this instruction facilitated conceptual transfer indirectly through several paths simultaneously. The findings are discussed in relation to a growing literature on instructional contexts for motivated strategy use and conceptual learning from text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generative processes in reading comprehension.

In M. C. Wittrock's (1974) generative model of learning with understanding, reading comprehension occurs when readers actively construct meaning for text. Two experiments were conducted with a total of 488 6th graders, in which time to learn was held constant across all treatments. It was predicted and found that the facilitation of generative processes by the insertion of paragraph headings and instructions to generate sentences about story paragraphs during encoding produced the greatest comprehension, followed in turn by instructions to generate sentences, the insertion of paragraph headings, and then by reading the same stories without generative instructions or paragraph headings. The combination of inserted paragraph headings and instructions to generate sentences about paragraphs approximately doubled comprehension and recall in each experiment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of a strategy-based intervention on the comprehension and strategy use of struggling adolescent readers.

This study examines the impact of the Learning Strategies Curriculum (LSC), an adolescent reading intervention program, on 6th- and 9th-grade students' reading comprehension and strategy use. Using a randomized treatment–control group design, the study compared student outcomes for these constructs for 365 students who received daily instruction in 6 LSC strategies and 290 students who did not receive intervention instruction. After 1 school year, 6th-grade students who received intervention instruction significantly outperformed students in the control group on a standardized measure of reading comprehension and reported using problem-solving strategies in reading to a greater extent than students in the control group. There were no significant differences between 9th grade intervention and control groups in reading comprehension or strategy use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading instruction today.

Most current instructional programs provide considerably more decoding instruction than they did 20 yrs ago, but the debate over the degree of emphasis that should be placed on decoding is still alive. Some argue that instruction that stresses decoding leads to higher scores on word recognition tests in the early grades; others point out that such instruction does not lead to higher comprehension scores. But it must be kept in mind that other factors—social, philosophical, political—tend to influence decisions about reading instruction as much as do theory and experimentation. The new interest in reading comprehension and instruction in the middle years (Grades 4–6) may draw attention away from this perennial debate for a while. A brief review of reading instruction in the past decades is presented, and current achievements in the areas of reading theory and reading instruction are discussed. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery elaboration and the recall of French article-noun pairs.

Examined the effect of an imagery-based study technique, called the "hook," on the acquisition of French article–noun pairs. 40 undergraduates with some background in French as a 2nd language studied a list of items under imagery elaboration or under rote rehearsal instructions. Under each type of instruction, half the Ss were asked to use the peg words learned prior to the experiment, whereas the remaining half were not asked to use them. When the English translation equivalents were presented as retrieval cues, recall was substantially better under imagery than under rote instructions. The use of mnemonic peg words had a slight detrimental effect on recall, regardless of the type of instructions received. It is concluded that rote repetition, as prescribed in language textbooks, is not as effective as imagery elaboration for learning French article–noun pairs. (French abstract) (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Icons improve older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information

We examined whether timeline icons improved older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information. In Experiment 1, comprehension of instructions with the icon (icon/text format) and without the icon (text-only format) was assessed by questions about information that was (a) implicit in the text but depicted explicitly by the icon (total dose in a 24 hour period), (b) stated and depicted in the icon/text condition (medication dose and times), and (c) stated but not depicted by the icon (e.g., side effects). In a separate task, participants also recalled medication instructions (with or without the icon) after a study period. We found that questions about dose and time information were answered more quickly and accurately when the icon was present in the instructions. Notably, icon benefits were greater for information that was implicit rather than stated in the text. This finding suggests that icons can improve older and younger adults' comprehension by reducing the need to draw some inferences. The icon also reduced effective study time (study time per item recalled). In Experiment 2, icon benefits did not occur for a less integrated version of the timeline icon that, like the text, required participants to integrate dose and time information in order to identify the total daily dose. The integrated version of the icon again improved comprehension, as in Experiment 1, as well as drawing inferences from memory. These findings show that integrated timeline icons improved comprehension primarily by aiding the integration of dose and time information. These findings are discussed in terms of a situation model approach to comprehension.     

Some training factors related to procedural performance.

Used 4 experimental tasks to test the effects on procedural performance of providing special instructions on logical-tree construction and use and of limiting vs not limiting the time available for studying the task instructions. Ss were 20 male undergraduates. Results indicate that performance accuracy was statistically better when either one or both logical-tree instruction and practice was provided and the task instruction study time was limited, than when Ss were permitted to study the task instruction for as long as they chose and in whatever way they chose. It is concluded that quite simple procedures for familiarizing Ss with logical-tree operations can improve performance on procedural tasks. It also appears that placing a limit on the time available for study of instructions can be better than permitting unlimited time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of generic advance instructions on learning a classification task.

Investigated whether giving students generic advance instructions about how to learn a classification task would be effective in facilitating learning of a specific classification task. The effect of instructions was compared with the effects of adjunct postquestions, simply reading the materials (control group), and both instructions and adjunct postquestions. The experimental task involved learning to classify instances of several different categories. Ss were 72 US Navy enlisted personnel. It was hypothesized that advance instructions to Ss regarding how and what to learn would facilitate learning of classification material. Results show that the instruction group and adjunct questions group did equally well on classifying new and old instances of US Navy call signs. All groups did better than control groups. Results suggest that students can learn a general strategy for processing classification material and that providing students with generic information about how and what to learn is an effective instructional strategy. A text of the instructions used to teach Ss how to learn a classification task is appended. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning mathematics: A cognitive perspective.

During the past decade, rather than studying the outcomes of mathematics learning in experimentation with specific teaching strategies, cognitive psychology has been advancing understanding of the fundamental nature of mathematics learning. The promise of cognitive theories for instruction is illustrated by reviewing several studies on elementary mathematics. This research illuminates the formal structure of a mathematical procedure such as counting and the hierarchy of its subprocedures, the diagnosis of consistent errors in subtraction and decimals and the discovery of their underlying sources, the formulation of the role of schemata in executing arithmetic skills, and the comprehension of word problems. The development of mathematics skills is considered in terms of the distinction between procedural and propositional knowledge. Implications of a cognitively based understanding of mathematical learning for the effective design of instruction are discussed. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)