Empirical research conducted over the past few decades suggests that the age at which an individual is first exposed to a second language affects long-term outcomes, in particular for phonology. The question that has occupied scholars of various bents is what, exactly, underlies the robust age effects observed. Does age imply immutable changes in…

Teacher observation is regarded as an essential procedure in the teacher training process. However, the vast majority of observation experiences have a top-down approach, as they are usually established by experts such as university teaching staff or school inspectors working for the administration. With a bottom-up approach in mind, this paper…

This paper reports on a study that explored the use of cognitively challenging tasks with low-attaining mathematics students and in particular, their teachers' attempts at scaffolding. A major finding was that responding appropriately to scaffolding opportunities was challenging for the teachers. In this paper two main factors are discussed which…

This report is designed to share the experiences of Oregon's Department of Education, thus far, with both the conceptual and actual use of indicators in assessing progress toward State level goals and objectives. The first chapter outlines the history of the study and briefly discusses the concept of indicators as used in the report. The report…

Concludes that the higher the cognitive level reached and maintained by the teacher during an instructional session, the higher the mean performance of pupils following an instructional session. (Author/RL)

Specific objectives of this two-phase study included: (1) assessment of design of the behavioral objectives in all secondary level courses; (2) construction of criteria for evaluation of the design; (3) testing of objectives against the evaluative criteria and/or the specifications of the curriculum design; and (4) determination of the validity of…

Discusses difficulty of translating ambiguous affective statements into effective instructional materials and limitations of Mager's process of goal analysis. A comprehensive procedure is then proposed which takes an affective statement from an undefined state, to subcategories of performance, to a hierarchy of performance objectives. A two-year…

This module for the classroom teacher is intended to help the teacher realize specific aims in instructional practice. Objectives outlined for the teacher are: (1) to be able to distinguish between broad goals and instructional objectives; (2) to be able to identify the characteristics of an instructional objective; (3) to be able to describe the…

In an attempt to selectively improve student performance, one-half of a set of difficult test items from a FORTRAN programming class had handouts explaining the concepts underlying the items distributed to the students. Each handout contained a written learning objective, a short prose passage explaining the objective, and one or more practice…

Research has found the Social Judgment Analysis (SJA) approach, with its focus on judgment policy and cognitive feedback, to be a significant factor in developing group member agreement and improving member performance. A controlled experiment was designed to assess the relative quality of the judgment making process provided by SJA.…

This document explores some aspects of Competency Based Teacher Education (CBTE) in the area of elementary mathematics teaching methods. The essential and distinguishing features of CBTE are examined. The following topics are discussed in detail: (1) how competencies may be identified; (2) the effects of a competency orientation on methods…

This Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I, Evaluation Report outlines the instructional programs provided for educationally deprived students in Colorado. Handicapped and bilingual students were also served by the program. A total of 1469 students from kindergarten through senior high participated in the program. Programs were…

A model of conceptual learning and development that provides a framework for studying the course of cognitive development throughout the school years and also studying the learning concepts across short time intervals is discussed in this paper. The theory includes five main propositions. First, children learn four successively higher levels of…