The family life sex education unit for eighth graders, "The Years of Uncertainty," consists of a series of daily lesson plans that span a 29-day period of one-hour class sessions. Topics covered are: problem solving, knowledge and attitudes, male and female reproductive systems, conception, pregnancy, birth, birth defects, venereal…

This speech inventory used in a study of aurally handicapped children (see TM 001 129) measures lipreading ability. The 33-item inventory represents a meaningful sample of phonemes in Standard American English. This measure can be presented either live or by 16 millimeter film. See also TM 001 130, 131, and 133. (CK)

Four field tests of Canadian software show that computerized interactive fiction teaches both history and independent reading/study skills. (ARH)

Emotional intelligence (EI) can be a diagnostic tool and a set of guiding principals to address the learning organization's concern of overcoming the barriers to collective learning. EI can be defined as "how well you handle yourself." It refers to "emotional literacy" and a person's capacity to manage emotions and use them as…

According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, a strong IQ can set the baseline for success but does not guarantee prosperity. Goleman believes that factors contributing to "emotional intelligence" (for example, self-control, zeal and persistence, and ability to motivate oneself) are key to success in the corporate world. Howard Gardner has…

The Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) "Knowledge & Concepts" examinations were designed, under legislative mandate, to measure student knowledge in the areas of reading, language arts (including writing), mathematics, science, and social studies. This summary report provides information about the standard setting activities…

The Advertising Division section of the proceedings contains the following 14 papers: "The Effectiveness of Banner Advertisements: Involvement and Click-Through" (Chang-Hoan Cho and John D. Leckenby); "Messages of Hope: Developing Health Campaigns that Address Misperceptions of Breast Cancer Held by Women of Color" (Cynthia M.…

Self-expression is a key component that adolescents at a certain stage of development (eighth grade) need to be aware of and understand. Students are undergoing dramatic change during this time of their lives--they are moving from Erikson's Industry versus Inferiority stage to Identity versus Role Confusion stage. Poetry is a literary genre in…

This book contains nine chapters, by various authors, containing research and policy perspectives on issues of mutual obligation between teachers and students, especially in Australia. The following are included: (1) "Researching Literacy, Language, and Numeracy and Mutual Obligation: An Introduction to Some Issues" (Sheilagh Kelly and…

Reviews research demonstrating a positive relationship between children's quality interactions with teachers and their enhanced cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development. Discusses most frequently studied aspects of teacher behavior including roles, sensitivity/detachment, involvement and teacher talk. Describes influences on…

Discusses the need to polish the foreign language skills of second-language teachers during their professional training. This training should concentrate primarily on the improvement of confidence in spontaneous target language use and grammatical accuracy and should also emphasize pedagogical development and reflection. (one reference) (CK)

Describes the One-Third Report method for motivating reluctant students to read and write: the teacher reads aloud a portion of a story; the class brainstorms endings; students read one-third of assignments, then write about what they need to know or hypothesize endings, which motivates them to finish the story. Includes sample One-Third Report.…

Applies Item Response Theory methods to data from the national norming of the Test of Economic Literacy to identify test questions with large male-female differences. Regression analysis showed a significant decrease in the magnitude of gender difference, although a difference was still present. (MJP)

Maintains that a loss-gain hypothesis (a negative impression gives way to a positive one) is a more powerful indicator and incentive for future friendship than an opposite sequence (positive to negative). Both of these, however, were eclipsed by a positive-positive interaction as a determinant of interpersonal attraction. (MJP)

To explore question-answering strategy differences between young "good" and older "poor" readers, 60 fifth and sixth grade good readers and 60 ninth and tenth grade poor readers responded to questions about passages read and reinspected. Strategies used were inferred through analysis of response errors. Implications for reading…