Application of a knowledge-based standard in evaluating a written certification examination developed by the American Board of Anesthesiology established a standard of 57 percent correct over two years' examinations. This process is recommended for developing mastery-based (rather than normative-based) success criteria for evaluation of medical…

The perceptions, knowledge, and opinions of 140 teachers concerning their learning-disabled students' medications were investigated. Teachers used global impressions and direct behavioral observations to assess medication effects but would prefer to use behavioral observations and rating scales. Few teachers felt that their preservice or inservice…

High school and college students (n=465) were surveyed about their knowledge of AIDS and how the knowledge affected their sexual behavior. Although reported information was good, several misconceptions were evident. Students' level of worry about contracting AIDS remained high; less than 50 percent reported behavior change since learning about…

The construct validity of a new measure of children's exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test (TRT), was assessed with 34 fourth, 33 fifth, and 67 sixth graders. The TRT demonstrated significant correlations with spelling, vocabulary, verbal fluency, word knowledge, and general information. (SLD)

Study analyzed the relationships among knowledge about AIDS, self-reported changes in sexual behavior, gender, and independent measures of behaviors in heterosexual college students. A survey provided only limited support for the hypothesis that students who are more knowledgeable about AIDS are more likely to adopt safer sexual practices. (SM)

The relationship between teacher performance related to student essential skills achievement and teacher performance related to student acquisition of higher order thinking skills was examined for 19 secondary school teachers. Effects of a training program in teaching higher order skills and relationships between teacher knowledge and practice…

Conducted written and telephone interviews of minorities (94% African-American) in Alabama concerning AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Knowledge of AIDS transmission was relatively accurate and increased from 1988 to 1990. Compared responses by age and rural or urban residence. Discusses implications for educational and prevention…

Compares the effects of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) education unit in two curricular settings upon secondary school students' knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV prevention behaviors. Findings from experimental groups (n=260) revealed significant improvement of HIV attitudes only in the health education class, and HIV attitude change is…

The main differences between pragmatism and scientific realism seem to focus on the certainty of knowledge. Pragmatists contend that one can never be entirely certain of one's beliefs, whereas scientific realists argue that progress has been, and can be, made in explaining things about the world. (SLD)

The social representation attached to an English or Argentinan national identity were studied for schoolboys aged 7, 10, 12, and 17 years (220 in England and 146 in Argentina) following the Falkland Islands conflict. Findings suggest the potential of socially oriented theoretical frameworks for research on political socialization. (SLD)

Studied prior knowledge as a mediator of effectiveness of the elaborative interrogation strategy for 50 male and 50 female undergraduates in a learning task. The elaborative interpretation group had significantly greater matching scores on an associative memory test for animal information than the control group only for familiar animals. (SLD)

A survey of 1,140 primary care physicians and psychiatrists who graduated from medical school from 1950 through 1985 indicated that knowledge of genetics is increasing, especially among more recent graduates, but deficiencies remain. Need is seen for greater emphasis on genetics to reduce chance of physician error as more tests become available.…

An expert teacher was studied, using ethnographic and phenomenological techniques, as he planned and taught 2 philosophy courses to gifted students, ages 12-18. The paper provides an overview of the teacher's thoughts and an explanation of the impact of an unwritten and unobservable collection of knowledge on the teacher's observable planning and…

Describes research using students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that investigated the ways in which different levels of knowledge about a topic can affect search strategies in an online public access catalog. Previous research is reviewed, and implications for information intermediaries and designers of information retrieval…

Describes a five-week summer program for elementary teachers designed to develop content knowledge in physics through immersion in the subject and cooperative learning. Teachers indicated they changed their science teaching orientation toward process and content and increased their awareness of the power of demonstrations and student-generated…