A project, using a longitudinal survey, seeks to describe the cognitive content of the professional competence developed within the field of engineering, psychology, economics, and medicine. With the aid of several empirical studies, the project will hopefully clarify when and how changes occur in students' perceptions and patterns of thought,…

According to the ACT theory of skill acquisition, cognitive skills are encoded by a set of productions, which are organized according to a hierarchical goal structure. People solve problems in new domains by applying weak problem-solving procedures to declarative knowledge they have about this domain. From these initial problem solutions,…

This study determined whether item forms ( rules for constructing items related to a domain or set of tasks) would enable naive item writers to generate multiple-choice items at three taxonomic levels--knowledge, comprehension, and application. Students wrote 120 multiple-choice items from 20 item forms, corresponding to educational objectives…

The use of value-added assessment to improve undergraduate education at Rhode Island College is described, with attention to how the process evolved, problems encountered, and future plans. Value-added assessment is used in the development of student educational plans, curriculum evaluation and revision, and assessment of the interaction of work…

The paper reviews the design of a model for teaching about work in social studies. Developed in 1974 at an inservice economic education workshop sponsored by the Illinois Council on Economic Education, The World of Work Economic Education Program orients existing curriculum materials around fundamental economic principles. It was hypothesized that…

The use of an alternative methodology to study transfer of learning in clinical instruction during medical school was investigated. The environment in which clinical instruction takes place was examined, after which hypotheses were proposed and tested in a quasi-experimental design. The first phase of the study, an ethnographic analysis of the…

The skills, understandings, and special attributes that a competent college student should acquire are described. General skills in writing, reading, speaking, and calculating are primarily the responsibility of elementary and secondary education, and these skills must be mastered by every college student. In addition to a specification of these…

Teachers and curriculum developers should organize cultural materials within a conceptual framework which explains how to classify the behavior of any cultural group. This would help elementary and secondary students in social studies classes learn about their own and other cultures. This conceptual framework must represent all major realms of…

This study evaluates the results of innovation in teaching methodology in an American government college course. The assumption of the study was that organizing a course into modules which required students to be tested for proficiency after each module was presented would maximize student factual knowledge gain and would result in improved…

Developmental education can help college-level curriculum planners identify competency objectives in social sciences, humanities, and the natural sciences. Developmental education is interpreted as learning that helps an individual develop the abilities necessary for pursuing personal and social goals. Abilities, differing at each stage of human…