Because Area Agencies on Aging are increasingly required to perform case management functions for older adults, it is important to understand the patterns of need among persons of different racial or ethnic backgrounds as well as the general knowledgeability of persons about what sources are available to them. A conceptual framework was designed…

The study determined whether Navajo parents of handicapped students reported similar knowledge of legal and educational information related to special education in comparison with Anglo parents, and the extent to which both cultural groups had knowledge of their handicapped childrens' educational rights. Twenty-two Anglo and 19 Navajo parents…

Three groups of teacher education graduates--current teachers, former teachers, and those who never taught--were asked to rate the effectiveness of their training, i.e., knowledge base. Significant differences in several domains were found across these three groups as well as for elementary majors and secondary minors within the groups. Domains…

The design of an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) in a knowledge domain where expertise is modeled as a set of uncertain and incomplete beliefs that are justifiable and expressible in the form of a critical argument is outlined. Issues concerning knowledge communication in a tutorial interaction are discussed with reference to a cognitive model…

The effects of rule knowledge were investigated using Braille inkprint pairs. Both recognition and recall were studied in three groups of subjects: rule knowledge, rule discovery, and no rule. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) that the group exposed to the rule would score better than would a discovery group and a control group; and (2) that all…

Reforms advocated for elementary school mathematics call for knowledge few teachers possess--knowledge about content, inquiry, and the pedagogical use of mathematical knowledge. As part of a larger study, researchers at the National Center for Research on Teacher Education interviewed methods instructors at a sample of college based preservice…

This practicum was designed to develop more positive attitudes toward science and to increase students' knowledge of science by providing supplemental hands-on activities. Second grade students were surveyed at the beginning of the school year and then were retested after participating in hands-on activities from 12 learning centers. The…

Longwood College's Involvement Project to promote student development is described, and specific assessment materials are provided. Included is an involvement transcript that helps students assess their college accomplishments and how to translate learning experiences into competencies. Fourteen student goals and skills and knowledge areas are…

Conflicting results have been obtained from studies examining childrearing attitudes, knowledge of child development norms, or perceptions of locus of control, and how these variables relate to parental discipline practices and to parent-child relationships. One way to clarify these inconsistent findings in the literature would be to examine the…

The perceived importance of sources of sex education and the effects of gender, coital activity, and type of information were studied, and previous studies were assessed. Attention was directed to the relative contribution of parents, institutions, reading, and peers to the information about each of 35 different sexual topics of 116 male and 116…

This field experiment begins to build a theoretical framework for exploring the effects of media characteristics on subjects' understanding and integration of information. Students in two eighth-grade science classes wrote term papers with one class using a print encyclopedia and the other an electronic encyclopedia to conduct their research. A…

When in childhood concepts about alcohol and drinking begin to develop has just begun to be investigated. A study was conducted to examine cognitive, maturational, and differential exposure influences on the acquisition of concepts about alcoholic beverages in preschool children. Knowledge about alcoholic beverages and drinking was assessed in 65…

The distribution of knowledge in society tends to parallel the distribution of other social and economic resources. Currently four major socioeconomic trends point not only to widened knowledge gaps in the future but also to greater divisions between higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups. First, a long-term trend toward a more…

This research review examines the historical development of training programs for special education teachers, beginning with their apprenticeship at residential institutions for handicapped children. Federal legislation brought about reform in the preparation of special education teachers, by authorizing grants to universities and colleges to…

The relationship of verbal skills to performance on the National Teacher Examinations Core Battery Test of General Knowledge was examined, using data from the June 1986 national administration. Differences in General Knowledge scores for self-identified Black and White examinees were found and were shown to interact with levels of achievement on…