Reports a study that examined headteachers' perspectives on England's 1993 teacher boycott of government-imposed standard assessment tasks (SATs) for elementary students together with teachers' attitudes toward the tasks, their management, and the boycott. Findings confirmed that, by 1993, resistance to national testing at that age was firmly…

Defines and discusses a definition of critical thinking. Maintains that college students improve their learning effectiveness when they are engaged actively and invested personally. Describes student evaluation techniques used to enhance thinking skills. (CFR)

In 1987, Toronto Board of Education mandated the development of standards, called "benchmarks," for students' achievement in mathematics and language at the end of grades 3, 6, 8, and 10. The development and testing of benchmarks stressing higher-order thinking, problem solving, and the use of experiential approaches and manipulative…

Reports a study to examine careless errors fifth-grade students (n=58) make while solving mathematical word problems and explores the type of student who frequently makes such errors. Results indicated that frequency of these errors was significantly related to the noncognitive variables of the study. Discusses implications for remediation. (20…

Compares concept mapping, simulated recall, reflective journals, and discourse analysis as methods of assessing thinking of 2 cohorts of 9 and 17 undergraduate students in their senior year of an early childhood teacher education program, respectively. Methodologies yield different, but complementary, pictures of preservice teachers' knowledge.…

A University of Toronto pharmaceutics course which organizes information about physical chemistry around real problems, presented as case studies or laboratory projects, is described. Problems were addressed in class discussions or by unsupervised eight-student groups using self- and group evaluation procedures. Results are discussed, and three…

This study of 63 students (in grades 2-8) with mild to moderate disabilities found that students in classrooms using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) achieved better than controls on reading measures. The study also found that students of teachers who received CBM expert system instructional consultation achieved better than others on written…

The integrity of research conducted in academic institutions should not be compromised in the conflict between the scientific community, public agencies, and legislators over oversight of federally funded projects. Integrity can be protected through prevention of abuse in researcher recruitment and training and through partnership between faculty…

Describes the use of a commercial hypermedia package for the development of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for the Army's Mobile Subscriber Remote Telephone. Time comparisons with an ITS developed by programmers are discussed; users' evaluations of the two versions are described; and questionnaires used in the study are appended. (Contains…

Detection of calculation errors, operation errors, and unanswerable problems was studied for 78 third graders and 77 fifth graders. The relationship between mathematics achievement and error detection was also examined. Older children and high achievers detected more errors than did younger students and low achievers. (SLD)

A new adaptive procedure for assessing multiple dimensions of self-concept for children younger than 8 years was studied with a sample of 501 children from kindergarten through grade 2. Use of the Self-Description Questionnaire with young children was supported by factor analysis. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. (SLD)

Reviews empirical research from 1963 to 1991 that compared the instructional effectiveness of games to conventional classroom instruction. It is concluded that subject matter areas where very specific content can be targeted, especially mathematics, are more likely to show beneficial effects for gaming. (41 references) (LRW)

Discusses the nature of support staff work in research libraries, changing authority structures, and the impact of technology on job responsibilities. A study considering work complexity, supervision, evaluation criteria, control and autonomy, and job satisfaction is reported. (17 references) (EA)

A survey of 143 North American medical schools elicited information about school response to recommendations for revitalization of the medical curriculum and other reforms (graduation competencies, community-based training, interdisciplinary courses, problem-based learning, evaluation improvement). Results indicate centralization of curriculum…

Describes a current awareness service developed for science and engineering faculty at the University of Minnesota that used microcomputer databases, a campus network, mainframe computing, and electronic mail to provide weekly searches of recently published literature. Cost effectiveness is discussed, and results of an evaluation of the service…