Research activities underway as part of the Air Force's Learning Abilities Measurement Program (LAMP) are described. A major objective of the program is to devise new models of the nature and organization of human abilities, that could be applied to improve personnel selection and classification systems. The activities of the project have been…

Designed to focus on teaching for higher-level cognitive learning, this study measured student perceptions of psychosocial aspects of their classroom learning and involved a team of six researchers. The study consisted of an intensive 10-week investigation of two above-average science teachers in a suburban high school in Perth, Western Australia.…

To determine students' metacognitive knowledge of the expository writing process, a study analyzed fifth and sixth graders' declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge by means of group questionnaires and individual interviews at all stages of their participation in one of three year-long writing programs. The programs emphasized social…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

Intended for use by teachers who wish to help students select library materials for personal and classroom reading, this instrument is designed to assess student reading attitudes and knowledge. The instrument is divided into upper elementary, junior high school, and high school levels and consists of questions that assess (1) how students feel…

The external examiner approach to assessment can address concerns that American educational standards are low, curricular coherence is lacking, and college students are learning insufficiently. The discussion: (1) contrasts the conditions in British and American higher education that make the British model inappropriate for the United States; (2)…

Based on the realization that professors' cultural and personal backgrounds affect the way they transmit information and the way they interact with men and women students in their classes, this booklet is designed to help faculty members assess how they are presenting subject matter to their students. The first section of the booklet,…

This study investigated the role of knowledge base organization in elementary school students' memory performance. In a preliminary study, students in grades 2, 6, and 10 rated words from three semantic categories for their category representativeness. Results disclosed age-related changes in how children rate words for high and low typicality.…

Analyzed was the effectiveness of communications practices used between a sample of 141 directors of special education in Tennessee and "involved others," which included 141 school board chairpersons, 141 superintendents, 48 other central office program directors, 48 principals, 48 regular education teachers, 48 special education teachers, 48…

A study measured the background knowledge of American culture of international students relative to American college students and the extent to which variations in context facilitate their ability to access or supplement this background knowledge. Subjects, three groups of students at Indiana University (27 international students, 28 American…

A systematic evaluation was conducted to judge the worth of an environmental investigations course which was designed to increase scientific knowledge, self-concept, and attitude toward science and science teaching. Five categories were examined: consistency between concepts, activities, and test items; effect on scientific knowledge,…

This study evaluated a college level Introductory Psychology course taken by 23 precocious adolescents during a three-week summer residential program. This evaluation measured not only knowledge gain, but also understanding, generalization, and application of that knowledge. Immediate post measures of participants' knowledge, understanding, and…

The purpose of this study was to (1) develop and validate criterion-referenced tests to measure science knowledge of students who finished the fifth grade, as well as those who finished the three cycles of the General Education and (2) to assess the performance on these tests of a national, random sample of fourth-, sixth-, seventh-, and…

The importance of specific competencies and knowledge areas needed by bachelor level community health educators was examined through a survey of 67 practicing health educators in Maine who were members of public health educator associations. Respondents ranked 99 competencies in order of their perceived importance to professional practice. Results…

A theoretical taxonomy of student outcomes based on the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems' (NCHEMS) structure was investigated using survey responses from 1,833 alumni of a comprehensive state university. The alumni spanned 45 class years and four major curricular types: applied science, business, engineering, and qualitative…