Two high school American history classes were involved in a study which examined the effect of (1) method of instruction and (2) gender of student on knowledge about and attitude toward course work. Journal available from Department of Social Science Education, 104 Dudley Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602. (AV)

Introduces a cooperative project undertaken by the USSR Ministry of Education and by various educational institutions in the United States to assess what youth in each country learn about the other country from geography and history textbooks. The objective was to minimize misinformation. (DB)

A comparative analysis of some science concepts held by preservice primary teachers in Britain and Spain indicates that many students lack understanding of and ability to apply these concepts. Results are analyzed in terms of national curricula and previous science background. Implications for teacher education are discussed. (IAH)

A study examined the differences in knowledge and attitudes about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among registered nurses, baccalaureate nursing students, liberal arts students, and non-nurse adults. It also investigated the effects of increasing knowledge on attitudes. (MSE)

Compares differences between adolescent and older mothers on tests of infant motor, cognitive, social and language development; and first- and second-year abilities. Older mothers were better at predicting emergence of infant behaviors and first-year behaviors. There was no difference between groups in predicting second-year behaviors. (Author/BB)

Referent structures produced by the instructor, other experts, averaged experts, and the best students were compared with those of 71 college students for their ability to predict examination performance in computer-programming courses and to differentiate among levels of expertise. Differences among expert referents are discussed. (SLD)

Knowledge and attitudes about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were compared for 167 public high school students, 166 incarcerated adolescents, and 151 emotionally disturbed adolescents. AIDS knowledge was moderately high for all, but misunderstandings about transmission and high-risk behaviors were noted. Teenagers with emotional…

Details a study of the need or wisdom of universities and colleges to include lab sections of courses that are offered to teach software. No significant difference was found in the knowledge gained for those students who participated in the lab in addition to the lecture/demonstration, but the students who participated in the lab completed their…

In 3 experiments, 1,598 Japanese college students were examined concerning the learning of facts in 2 content domains, baseball and music. Content knowledge facilitated fact learning only in the relevant domain; learning ability facilitated fact learning in both domains. Effects of content knowledge and learning ability were additive. (SLD)

How the organization of knowledge influences scientific reasoning was studied as 132 college students completed a selection task with familiar or unfamiliar semantic content and interclause relationships expressing or not expressing entailment. Results support a constructivist view of reasoning emphasizing the importance of organization of…

Differences in the comprehension and interpretation of historical texts are discussed for eight high school students and eight historians. The sources of differences in the two groups and their epistemological stances are analyzed. Implications for reading comprehension and the place of history in the school curriculum are discussed. (SLD)

An experiment involving 92 college students was conducted to assess the relative effectiveness of multiple-relationship knowledge maps and traditional text for presentation of related information domains and to investigate comparative versus sequential presentations. Conditions under which knowledge maps were superior are discussed, and…

The distinction between teachers' and scholars' subject matter knowledge (SMK) is investigated. Objectivist epistemology, L. Shulman's (1986, 1987) dualism, and J. Dewey's (1929, 1933, 1938, 1964, 1966) account of SMK are assessed. There is no real dualism involved in the distinction, and all knowledge is, in varying ways, pedagogic. (TJH)

Presented academically low-, average-, and high-achieving fifth graders with information about animals and assigned students to one of three strategy conditions: elaborative interrogation (EI), repetition, or provided elaboration. Average- and high-achieving EI group students outperformed repetition group students on a test of their memory of the…