According to Question-Under-Discussion (QUD) models of discourse interpretation, clauses cohere with the preceding context by virtue of providing answers to (usually implicit) questions that are situated within a speaker's goal-driven strategy of inquiry. In this article we present four experiments that examine the predictions of a QUD model of…

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed "misconceptions," among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists…

It is known that experts identify or perceive meaningful patterns in visual stimuli related to their domain of expertise. This study explores the speed with which experts and novices detect changes in physics diagrams. Since change detection depends on where individuals direct their attention, differences in the speed with which experts and…

Purpose: The current study used an intervention design to test the hypothesis that parent input sentences with diverse lexical noun phrase (NP) subjects would accelerate growth in children's sentence diversity. Method: Child growth in third person sentence diversity was modeled from 21-30 months (n = 38) in conversational language samples obtained…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a well-described inherited cause of intellectual disability and the most common known genetic cause of autism. Social deficits in girls with FXS are not well understood. To better understand barriers to social functioning that may contribute to mental health outcomes, we administered a theoretically based social…

This 3-year study evaluated the effectiveness of the Second Step-Student Success Through Prevention (SS-SSTP) social-emotional learning program on increasing prosocial behaviors that could serve as protective factors against peer conflict and bullying among students with disabilities. Participants included 123 students with disabilities across 12…

The National Research Council emphasizes using tools of representation as an essential element of spatial thinking. However, it is debatable at what age the use of spatial representation for spatial thinking skills should begin. This study investigated whether young Korean children possess the potential to understand map-like representation using…

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in effectiveness between comprehensive sexuality abstinence-based education and abstinence-only education. A survey was developed and distributed to over 140 individuals via a variety of sources such as: (1) the researcher's e-mail lists; (2) a group of City Core/City Year volunteers; (3) a…

Reviews the literature on patron perceptions of library use and the necessity of instruction, describes a survey of Illinois public library patrons that asked their views on library use instruction, compares results with those of an earlier survey of academic library patrons, and suggests areas for further study. (16 references) (LRW)

THIS STUDY REPORTS THE FIRST PHASE OF A 5-YEAR LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION OF THE COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF A HIGHLY STRUCTURED PRESCHOOL PROGRAM AND A TRADITIONAL NURSERY SCHOOL PROGRAM IN AMELIORATING THE LEARNING DEFECTS OF CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN. THE HIGHLY STRUCTURED PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO OVERCOME PARTICULAR WEAKNESSES OF…

An application of evaluation methodology to innovative educational programs through a case study of a Chicago suburban high school program for alternative education is presented. The evaluation methodology encompasses the difficulty in combining comparative programs, individual-diagnostic, and individual developmental measures, the selection of…