Asserts that, on average, women score lower on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) Subject Test in Economics. Reports on a study of 149 student scores on the test to identify factors associated with this differential performance. Finds little support for the notion that men are simply better than women in quantitative areas. (CFR)

When multiple-choice answer sheets are printed in the latent-image format, students may be required to select alternatives until they identify the correct one. This provides immediate feedback and permits use of more complicated test formats, but it also introduces novel ways to cheat and may engender substantial anxiety in test-takers unless…

Specific ways in which lectures, laboratories, cooperative group learning, and examinations and grading can be used as part of a strategy to increase pharmacy student interest and involvement in basic science are outlined. The techniques focus on making the presentation of content at least as important as the content itself. (MSE)

Offers suggestions for teaching about the quincentenary of Christopher Columbus' voyages to the Americas. Includes details on teaching definitions about the topic, offering an essay test, and providing a nine-day unit of study on Columbus. Provides a three-item annotated bibliography of works about the explorer. (SG)

Explores the implications for student behavior of different standards. Shows that competition between students does stimulate academic effort provided students are appropriately rewarded for achieving and argues that stratifying students into groups in which each has a chance for success may be preferred to the setting of a single national…

Investigated whether there were differences in retention of language when both visual and auditory stimuli were employed as opposed to just a visual stimulus. It was found that reading-only resulted in higher scores on tests taken immediately, whereas combined listening and reading resulted in higher tests when tests were delayed. (12 references)…

A discussion of the role of assessment in teaching focuses on the need to improve assessment in areas other than academic achievement, including the affective results of teacher behavior, student self-evaluation, and diagnosis of learning difficulties. The need for more explicit language for reporting achievement is also noted. (MSE)

Compared 719 first-, second-, third-grade students enrolled in partial-immersion (PI) programs in Japanese, Spanish, or French to 3 comparison groups. Outcome measures used were a mathematics test, Metropolitan Achievement Test in Reading, and Student Oral Proficiency Rating. PI students scored at least as well as, and to some extent better than,…

The Association of American Medical Colleges' conference on the use of standardized patients in the teaching and evaluation of clinical medical skills is summarized, including perspectives on issues such as curriculum design, administrative concerns, faculty indifference or resistance, and logistical and financial feasibility. (MSE)

Discusses the reforms made in the fall of 1990 in the English department at the Ecole Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Paris, France), which were based on the basis of a combination of literature-culture and second- and foreign-language acquisition pedagogical biases. (four references) (VWL)

This study presents evidence for the psychological reality of the Subset Principle as a determinant of the acquisition of Governing Category Parameter settings for English anaphors and pronominals. Prelingual deafness was used as a natural experiment in the acquisition of English in the presence of variably impaired access to English language…

In this study an artificial intelligence assessment tool used disease-by-feature frequency estimates to create disease prototypes for nine common causes of acute chest pain. The tool then used each subject's prototypes and a pattern-recognition-based decision-making mechanism to diagnose 18 myocardial infarction cases. (MLW)

Describes research and development work done by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) for "Sesame Street." Cooperation between producers and researchers is discussed; three mechanisms used to explore new topics and learn more about preschool children are explained; and a case study is presented of how a new geography curriculum was…

Discusses the politics of higher education as it relates to the upward mobility of African Americans in U.S. society. It discusses higher education's role in reducing the endemic problems confronting blacks and how blacks can pursue their educational goals despite the politics in higher education. (GLR)

With respect to the design of cooperative systems, issues related to the fundamental communication channels, sociotechnical factors, and task characteristics associated with collaborative work situations are reviewed. Research strategies incorporating theory-motivated design, ethnographic methods, and controlled testing methods are discussed as a…