This issue contains abstracts and critical comments for ten mathematics education journal articles, plus an editorial on teacher education needs by Thomas J. Cooney. Two articles focus on problem solving; the remainder concern instruction about and with computers, geometric perceptions, preservice teachers' conceptions of volume, attitudes toward…

The instructional delivery system of traditional school practice consists of fixed time, single opportunities for learning a vague-referenced, variable, and private curriculum. While a minimum competency testing program ensures that academic standards are criterion-referenced, fixed, and public, the time allotted for learning may still be fixed.…

The state of the art of behavioral instruction and examples of successful implementation of behaviorally-based college teaching are provided in this book. In Chapter 1, the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) is covered, including a discussion of the problems inherent in traditional teaching methods that led to the development of personalized…

The assessment and placement system used in the Mathematics Learning Center of the New World Center campus of Miami-Dade Community College uses two test inventories: (1) a multiple choice mathematics test geared to the course which the student wants to pursue; and (2) the Canfield-Lafferty Learning Styles Inventory designed to determine an…

This guide provides a description of a mastery learning reading program based on a language approach to teaching reading. All suggested activities stress the use of skills to obtain meaning from reading as the main goal of instruction. Sections include a discussion of the elements of this mastery learning instructional program that notes the need…

This study guide, designed for use at Oklahoma State University, contains lists of activities for students to perform based on the "mastery of learning" concept. The activities include readings, problems, self evaluations, and assessment tasks. The units included are: Lines in a Plane, Conics, Transformations, Polar Coordinates,…

The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine applies mastery learning concepts to an objectives-based curriculum and uses the Nedelsky method to assess mastery of core objectives. Provisions are made for remediating deficiences. The Nedelsky technique is used for determining an acceptable level of performance in multiple choice examinations…

Achievement approaching mastery in the use of at least one modern foreign language on the part of a large portion of tomorrow's citizens is an objective which is new in American education. Language programs in the high school are therefore undergoing basic modifications in order to establish learning conditions that can develop communication…

Examines the mastery learning model as proposed by Carroll and Bloom in the context of science instruction, addressing issues related to classroom application. Discusses expected results of implementing mastery learning and its impact on students and teachers, recognizing the additional burden on teacher time required by mastery learning…

To evaluate curriculum fit with class ability, the magnitude of individual differences in size and number of instructional subunits read were examined, as well as number of repetitions of a unit required to achieve mastery. Subjects were average and high IQ fifth graders studying social studies. (Author/GDC)

When instruction is weak and inappropriate to a goal, only students with high intelligence and aptitude learn rules for problem solving. All students learn, when given time, help, and opportunity to practice problems. (RL)

The impact of learning mathematics under successful and unsuccessful cooperative group conditions was studied for 181 seventh graders in Montreal (Quebec) who had a learned-helplessness or mastery-oriented attributional style and different prior mathematics achievement. Learning of helpless and less able students may depend on accomplishments and…

A remedial biology course that employed six planned strategies to guide program activity is described. Team planning and team teaching, mastery learning, process skill emphasis, technology emphasis, positive reinforcement grading, attendance incentives, student achievement, student attitudes, parent attitudes, and implications are topics of…

Use of a "days to learn" measure of progress in reading and arithmetic at the elementary level was found to be an effective measure for early identification, but the 183 students in the Chapter 1 or special education programs did not show acceleration in progress when receiving extra help from special teachers. (Author/DB)

Describes a program developed at City University of New York (CUNY) Medical School that was designed to facilitate learning and retention of difficult concepts and principles in first-year biology and chemistry courses. Topics addressed include small group interaction, cooperative learning, mastery learning, interactive technology, and information…