Sought to determine first-year physics students' approaches to learning, the intellectual demands of their exams (using Bloom's taxonomy), and correlations between the approach to learning, assessment demands, and student performance. Found that most students approached physics with the intention of memorizing formulae rather than understanding…

Uses data from the Second International Science Study to examine the effects of school entry age, grade, age, and enrollment ratios on science achievement among tenth and twelfth graders in Papua New Guinea. Compares findings with those from Thailand, the Philippines, and industrialized countries. Contains 13 references. (SV)

Investigates the performance, gender differences, interrelationships among five tasks, relationship with paper and pencil tests, relationships with background variables, and contribution of schools from the Israel data of the Second International Science Study (SISS). Compares the Israeli results with those of Japan. (YP)

Defines the Cognitive Difficulty Level (CDL) as number of schemes required for solution (NS) times the required learner's resources (Problem Solving Taxonomy [PST] level). Describes the validation procedures of the CDL index in high-school level electronics. (Author/YP)

Presents a method for assessing three major objectives in the teaching of vocational and technical courses: material assimilation, application to real practical problems, and resourcefulness of the student. Provides examples of questions developed and compares them with questions normally used. (YP)

Describes a group-based mastery learning program emphasizing mandatory passing of an examination at the end of each unit. A student has four chances to earn a grade of 85 percent on each examination. Reports results for three semesters and includes evaluations from students and the instructor. Eight references are listed. (YP)

Investigates the effects of two context variables on the performance of seventh-grade students on a qualitative and numerical proportional reasoning test. Explores the nature of the relationships between rational number skills, qualitative reasoning about ratios, and numerical proportional reasoning. (Author/YP)

Investigates the effect of cognitive style on the performance of college students on proportional reasoning tasks. Reports that students having proportional reasoning can be misled by the presence of field effects and that there was a significant correlation between the test of field independence and the items of proportional reasoning. (Author/YP)

Discusses pupil misconceptions concerning forces. Summarizes some of Assessment of Performance Unit's findings on meaning of (1) force, (2) force and motion in one dimension and two dimensions, and (3) Newton's second law. (YP)

Four questions related to rain concerning aerodynamic drag force, pressure from the impact of raindrops, impact of wind on the pressure, and stopping force extended on the car by the water are proposed. (YP)

Investigates the effects of verbal fluency and curiosity in deductive or inductive treatment on tests dealing with various species interactions. Reports that neither psychomoter or written curiosity measures interacted significantly with any of the treatments and that eighth graders with good verbal ability did significantly better in the…

This was an experiment to test the extended discretion laboratory approach versus a guided-inquiry approach for teaching biology in a university setting. Among three criterion variables (examination, reports, and quizzes), only the laboratory report scores showed differences between groups and group-by-instructor interaction. (Author/YP)

Identifies some of the problems of attitude assessment in science education. Describes the development of the Attitude Toward the Subject Science Scale (ATSSS) and gives an overview of the Ajzen and Fishbein attitude theories. Provides five sample items. (YP)

Tests on diffusion and osmosis given to (n=116) secondary biology students, (n=123) nonbiology majors, and (n=117) biology majors found that, even after instruction, students continue to have misconceptions about these ideas. Appendix includes diffusion and osmosis test. (MKR)

Assessment of practical objectives by means of a project which occurred in an operational Advanced level examination in the United Kingdom is analyzed for construct validity. As in previous research, low correlation were found between scores of (n=218) candidates on the project and on the other components of the examination. (18 references)…