This descriptive study determined the perceived knowledge level, utilization, and implementation of national and state school-to-work initiatives by preservice teacher educators in Ohio. Investigation focused on 359 preservice teacher educators from 13 state-supported universities. Ohio's teacher educators were most knowledgeable of and tended to…

Results of tests of students' skills and knowledge conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the state accountability tests required by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program should not be compared. The two tests are based on different standards and have different measurement functions and judging the results of one…

Conceptual understanding in mathematics within the area of functions involves the ability to translate among different representations, table, graph, symbolic, or real-world situation of a function. Students' procedural knowledge for solving equations may become separated from their conceptual knowledge, and if these connections can be maintained…

Using concept maps, a Kellert-type (S. R. Kellert, 1985) inventory, and self-report behavioral items, this cross-age study assessed public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward bottlenose dolphins. Results suggest that this important megafaunal species is poorly understood by the public at large, and that negative "utilitarian" attitudes and…

Elementary teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practice relating to retention were explored using an adapted version of the Teacher Retention Beliefs Questionnaire (Tompchin & Impara, 1992). A researcher-developed knowledge section was added to the original questionnaire to measure teachers' propositional knowledge of retention. Thirty-five, K-4…

One of the most important goals in primary education is to guarantee literacy and numeracy, two crucial notational systems. Before schooling, children develop some fundamental knowledge on notations from which formal learning should depart. The literature has studied this knowledge, focusing on the development of notational production and…

In cut score setting processes, subject matter experts are asked to make judgments about the likely performance of examinees at a targeted skill level. When cut scores are used in K-12 settings to separate students who have and have not mastered certain skills, the target examinee may be characterized as the barely proficient or barely master…

Research on assessment and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is moving at a rapid pace. Continuing education (CE) providers must translate new findings for clinicians so as to enhance patient care. A two-page survey was distributed by mail to a sample of 5,000 licensed Missouri clinicians to gather data in support of this translation process.…

Preparing youngsters for an aging society requires teachers who keep pace with health science research. The Stealth Gerontology[TM] program educates teachers regarding aging-related issues. The design and assessment of the program are reported in this paper. Teachers attended sessions including direct instruction and hands-on participation (e.g.,…

Background knowledge plays an important role in one?s ability to learn. We learn new knowledge by relating it to our prior knowledge, which in turn provides concrete understanding (Piaget, 1969). Rosenblatt (1996) explained, "The reader brings to the work personality traits, memories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a…

We evaluated a project designed to expose introductory psychology students to the fields of psychology. We created this project to foster student learning about the various fields of psychology, careers that psychologists have, the psychology program on their campus, and courses available at their home institution. Evaluative data included…

Small tutorial groups in higher education are often composed without regard to students' gender or broad knowledge background, for example, yet research indicates that composing groups on the basis of gender and prior qualifications may have significant effects on assessment outcomes. Previous studies have also investigated the effects of…

The authors compared the effects of information-based and attitude-based interventions on counselor trainees' knowledge about and attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients. Analyses of variance indicated that providing information yielded higher knowledge levels than did not providing information and that the exploration of attitudes led…

Children learn many new categories and make inferences about these categories. Much work has examined how children make inferences on the basis of category knowledge. However, inferences may also affect what is learned about a category. Four experiments examine whether category-based inferences during category learning influence category knowledge…

Melanoma, the most fatal form of skin cancer, is rising at rates faster than all other preventable cancers in the United States. Childhood exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light increases the risk for skin cancer as an adult, therefore, starting positive sun protection habits early may be key to reducing the incidence of this disease. The…