This study examined pupils' knowledge of and feelings about mental handicap, through interviews with second year students in a British comprehensive school and a questionnaire survey of 179 students. Results indicated that girls felt that disabled persons were capable of benefiting from integration, whereas boys' attitudes were more ambiguous.…

In a study of knowledge activation and sentence mapping, subjects read stories that described concrete actions, and then the content of the stories was manipulated (i.e. stories were written that implied different emotional states). It is suggested that the more emotionally evoking situations one encounters the more memory traces are stored and…

Discusses two authors' views on critical thinking. McPeck denies the possibility of critical thinking, stating it is burdened by informal logic. Paul believes critical thinking includes logical, epistemological, psychological, and social dimensions springing from moral and political concerns. The paper examines the debate over general versus…

This study of 5 hearing-impaired and 6 normally hearing children (ages 1-3) and their mothers found that mother directives were more frequently expressed during interaction with children exhibiting less advanced language abilities, and both groups of children were more likely to produce topically related responses to their mother's directive…

Analyzes synthesis essays of graduate students for the importance and origin of information and for the quality of key rhetorical moves. Confirms the interrelatedness of comprehension and composing processes and illustrates how writers, with varying levels of topic familiarity, use both their knowledge of disciplinary topics and their experience…

A survey of 742 Kentucky adults revealed that they had a good understanding of the characteristics of abused children and child abusers, but a majority considered abusers as abnormal and intractable. Only a third of those aware of instances of child abuse actually reported it to authorities. (Author/JDD)

The impact of an adapted "Feeling Yes, Feeling No" sexual abuse prevention curriculum was measured with 286 third and fourth graders. Treatment children exhibited significantly greater knowledge and better ability to discriminate safe from unsafe situations compared to controls. These gains were maintained at six-week and one-year…

The manner in which seven male expert credit administrators and seven male trained nonexpert credit administrators differed in their ability to generate and verify inferences was studied. Results suggest that the ability to reason within a complex domain requires more than simply acquiring knowledge. (SLD)

When 43 experienced school psychologists were asked to evaluate discrepancy scores, it was found that they made inconsistent choices, failed to use standard statistical procedures for testing differences between scores, and tended to misinterpret percentile ranks as useful for discrepancy analysis. Implications for learning-disabilities…

Study investigated 5-7 year olds' understanding of electricity. Researchers collected data from students involved in a unit on flashlights both during and after the unit. The views children acquired (alternative or scientific) during the science unit were maintained after the unit's completion. Students did not hold sophisticated ideas about…

Examined factors associated with service use among 186 urban African American elderly people. Interviews with elders and caregivers indicated that many elders were unaware that older adult services were available, that those elders who were socially isolated and who suffered from poor health used services more, and that most elderly respondents…

The role of teachers, teacher educators, researchers, program planners, and advocates in the somewhat unfocused field of adult literacy is discussed. They are invited to focus on three directions: shifting focus to families and communities, knowledge development, and multilevel collaboration. (Contains 10 references.) (LB)

In a recent international survey of geographic knowledge reported by Gilbert Grosvenor, Mexican respondents asked to locate 16 places on a map had an accuracy rate of 48.7%, compared to first-ranked Swedish respondents' 73.4%. This article argues that respondents' schooling levels and the cultural relevance of the locations warrant further…

Compared drinking patterns and level of alcohol knowledge in two samples of college students who visited Daytona Beach, Florida, during their spring breaks in 1981 and 1991 (n=3,368). Found significant reductions between 1981 and 1991 in number of students who were drinkers and amount they consumed. Significant increases in alcohol knowledge were…

A model of the sources and consequences of mismatches between gestures and speech is presented that argues that the transitional knowledge state is the source of the mismatch and that such mismatches signal that a child is in a transitional state of concept acquisition and is ready to learn. (SLD)