Examined toddlers' awareness of partners' knowledge states when communicating with them. In two studies, the parent either witnessed or did not witness placement of an object the child asked for help in retrieving. Subjects named the object and location and gestured to its location more often for parents who did not know the information than for…

Discusses common features of the scientific change problem in epistemological research and conceptual change problem in didactic research, analyzing the role of analogies and metaphors within scientific knowledge. These ideas are confronted with images of scientific learning within pedagogical and epistemological constructivism. Maxwell's views…

Survey responses from 71 health professionals, benchmarking data from 8 hospitals, continuing education program evaluations, and focus groups with nursing, allied health, and primary care providers indicated a need for professional continuing education on women's health issues. Primary topic needs were identified. The data formed the basis for…

Nutrition knowledge and dietary intake among 184 Hispanic teenage girls were assessed before and after a nutrition education intervention involving five weekly lessons. Intervention participants increased their nutrition knowledge by 50 percent and showed modest improvement in dietary behavior. Contains 16 references and data on subjects' dietary…

Studied the use of prior knowledge state assessment for enhancing learning through a series of experiments involving college students (n=112, n=1,159, n=1,081). Results show that beginning students are especially willing to use prior knowledge state assessment and appear to benefit more from its use. (SLD)

Examines the impact of a speaker with HIV on students' (N=83) attitudes, knowledge, and affect. Results indicate that after training, those in the experimental group viewed people with HIV/AIDS in a more positive manner and experienced more positive and negative affect. Attitudes toward homosexuality and knowledge of HIV/AIDS did not change…

Studied the impact of school variables on student political knowledge and political activity using questionnaire responses from 1,311 secondary school students in South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Findings show that many students have had experience with normative forms of political activity, but fewer have engaged in…

Discussion of the nature of professional development in distance education conceptualizes the different forms that professional development can take and then focuses on developer-led learning. Highlights include social interaction; knowledge advantages and knowledge deficits; conflicting values; organizational struggles; and experiences at the…

Two studies addressed whether preschoolers consider speakers' knowledge states when establishing initial word-referent links. Children showed better learning from a speaker knowledgeable of novel words' referents than from an ignorant speaker. Four-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, learned words better when speaker said the object was made by…

Three experiments examined how 4- to 10-year-olds' domain knowledge and observation of exemplars interact during concept acquisition and how exposure to novel exemplars causes knowledge revision. In all experiments, prior knowledge and exemplar observation independently influenced children's categorization judgments. Use of prior knowledge was…

Contains guidelines that provide an international view of areas of consensus about what constitutes "good practice" in test use. Guidelines address key competencies, such as knowledge and skills, and issues of professional and ethical standards in testing, the rights of test takers, test administration and scoring, and other issues. (SLD)

Suggests the study of academic development as a viable research agenda. Begins by examining the theme of schooling and knowledge, discussing an epistemological orientation and describing academic development (what it is, why it is important to pursue models of academic development, and how to overcome perceived barriers). Concludes that it is…

Tested role of event plausibility and script-relevant knowledge in events suggestively planted in memory of 5- to 7-year olds and 9- to 12-year olds. Found that the majority did not remember either false event. Significantly more children recalled the plausible but not the implausible false event; only one recalled the implausible but not…

Demonstrated through telephone interviews of 507 adults that estimates of agency services awareness in typical needs-assessment studies are probably inflated by a response bias labeled "agency awareness overclaiming," a respondent reporting an awareness of service agencies that do not exist or with which the respondent is not really familiar. (SLD)

Describes cultural therapy as a process of bringing one's own culture to a level of awareness that permits one to perceive it as a potential bias in social interaction and in the acquisition or transmission of skills and knowledge. Discusses knowledge categories necessary for cultural therapy and the role of cultural therapy in teacher training.…