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To attain highly efficient instructional conditions, it is important to adapt instruction to the individual trainee. This so-called personalization of training by dynamic/automatic task selection is the focus of this paper. Recently, cognitive load measures have been proposed as a useful addition to conventional performance measures like speed and accuracy. The combination of conventional performance measures and cognitive load measures can be used to obtain information about the mental efficiency of instructional conditions. The paper argues that the dynamic/automatic selection of learning tasks on the basis of mental efficiency will have a significant influence on the optimization of the learning process. First, a review of various task selection approaches is given. A distinction is made between static and dynamic task selection approaches. In both procedures the training is based on the trainee's prior knowledge. However, the selection of a set of learning tasks can either be chosen by the teacher/trainer prior to the start of the training (static procedures) or can be adjusted during the training (dynamic procedures). It has been proposed that when teaching student complex cognitive skills, part-task training can have a higher learning efficiency and reduced training costs than whole-task training (Wightman & Lintern, 1985). The whole-task and part-task approaches are used as subcategories for static and dynamic selection, yielding four approaches. Then, a new approach using mental efficiency in a dynamic whole-task procedure is presented. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/AEF)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert