While teaching experimental psychology, I did experiments aimed at finding ways to improve student vocabularies. Measurements I made showed that students who did well in school had vocabularies superior to the average student. Since superior vocabulary growth is not tied to any special trait, I wanted to find a method of vocabulary instruction that was effective, efficient, and would appeal to all students. Those experiments, three of which were published, indicated that the most effective way to teach vocabulary is to combine definitional learning with learning through context.