Brazil's Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region is conducting a performance evaluation pilot study at three schools serving disadvantaged populations. The objective is first to test methods which can facilitate Post Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) and then to carry out the evaluations. The preliminary results are provided below.

This study was designed to identify whether advanced nonnative speakers of English rely on recurrent sequences to produce fluent speech in conformance with neural network theories and symbolic network theories; participants were 6 advanced, speaking and listening university students, aged 18-37 years (their native countries being Korea, Japan,…

This article highlights the sources and methods that will help the adult educator discover ideas that can be developed into unsolicited proposals for the funding of projects. The following sources of ideas are listed: colleagues and friends, literature reviews, current events in the popular press, speeches by noted authorities, proceedings of…

This document presents hypotheses about how much understanding a user needs to perform skillfully using a computer or a computer program. A framework for characterizing user understanding is presented which includes three criteria for evaluating the representation generated during problem solving: (1) internal coherence--whether the components of…

Rubin and Peplau's Just World Scale is based on the belief that a just world is a unidimensional construct in which individual beliefs are polarized according to immanent justice or ultimate justice. To investigate the effect of personal style on just world view, 109 male and female college students (who previously had completed the Just World…

This chapter outlines the measurement and interpretation of cognitive style using the conceptual structure of Educational Cognitive Style and the Educational Sciences developed by Dr. Joseph Hill and others. The measurement and interpretation of 36 aspects of cognitive style are discussed, as well as the use of cognitive style mapping (the graphic…

Presents a factor analysis of the psychological constructs of "ruralness" and "urbanness" of place and person using university student survey. Found that population and physical environment account for perceived ruralness of place, but did not identify factors that account for ruralness of person. Includes three tables and references. (Author/TES)

Discusses the concept of mental (or cognitive) maps--the images we construct in our minds to help us understand something--and argues that geographers' literature on mental maps can provide greater understanding of scientific literature's formats, conventions, processes, and formulations. Three classes of perception studies for mental maps are…

Results of two studies suggested that acquisition of route mapping during the preschool years provides a means of organizing spatial information and internal representations necessary for successful problem solving in general. (Author/RH)

Second- and fourth-grade children viewed a cylindrical object in nine positions and identified the 90- , 180- , or 270-degree positions from a set of photographs. Perspectives in which the object differed from the child's view in both left-right and near-far dimensions were more difficult than perspectives that only transformed one dimension.…

Most representations of academic disciplines have been created when experts depict or report what they know; however, there are potential problems that can arise when practitioners rely on expert self-report. One way to avoid potential problems associated with expert self-report is to employ cognitive task analysis methods. The Pathfinder Scaling…

This report describes how schools can draw on multiple voices to create a comprehensive portrait of important events in a school's history. In this "mapping" process, participants create a map that portrays the collective history of the school, facilitating an increased awareness of past actions and their connection to current conditions.…

Examined factors associated with individual variation in false belief understanding in three- to five-year olds. Found that family size was strongly associated with false belief understanding in children who were less competent linguistically, suggesting that the presence of siblings can compensate for slower language development in developing…

The deficiencies and distortions revealed in studies of public understanding of science, intuitive physics, nutritional myths and misunderstandings, and mental mapping of geographical space are defects in information transfer from the physical and intellectual realms to the subjective realms of individuals (Popper's three "Worlds").…

Reports on a study of metacognitive strategy training for reading in English as a Second Language. The study indicated that such training was effective in enhancing second language reading, although the measured effectiveness of training was influenced by the way reading was measured and differences in students' learning styles. (62 references)…