Focuses on (n=39) Brazilian science teachers' perceptions of the role of models in science teaching and uses semi-structured interviews to inquire into the knowledge of models and modeling. Reports three groups of ideas: (1) the status and value of models; (2) the influences that inform the translation of these general ideas; and (3) responses to…

An information-theoretic framework is used to analyze the knowledge content in multivariate cross-classified data. Proposes measures based on the information concept, including the knowledge content of a cross classification, its terseness, and the separability of one variable. Presents applications for situations when classical analysis is…

New Mexico Cooperative Extension Service home economics agents rated perceived technical knowledge and client needs for 144 family and consumer sciences concepts. Six areas in which they needed more training were identified: gerontology, health, employment, parenting, family dynamics, and child development. (SK)

Studied the effects of topic knowledge, text coherence, and topic interest on learning from text in 160 high school students. The contribution of topic interest seemed to increase according to the quantity of learners' topic knowledge, and high-knowledge and high-interest students performed better than those in the other groups. (SLD)

Describes how the technical support group learns and shares the product knowledge it needs to perform its work. Explains how customer documentation fits into these learning processes and activities. Analyzes the boundaries that exist between technical support and customer documentation groups. (PM)

Explores the fund and source of knowledge that undergraduate students possess about school psychology. Results indicated that although undergraduate students rated their perceived knowledge of school psychology significantly higher than clinical psychology, the mean ratings for both disciplines were low. Both psychology and education majors…

Offers a theoretical analysis of ignorance in a knowledge society, asserting that the intense specialization demanded by a knowledge economy militates against a broader information society and gives rise to "reading reluctance." Presents results from a small-scale study, which found that students could identify only about 30 percent of…

Responses from 559 Korean nurses indicated that 94.9% felt deficient in biological sciences knowledge, especially when conducting assessments. They felt bioscience course content was not related to clinical practice; 61% wanted bioscience integrated into a nursing model and taught by nursing faculty. (Contains 16 references.) (SK)

Tests views of linguistic knowledge against the results of three experiments using English definite and indefinite article variant preference in both a production and a perception task. Results argue against a rule-based model of speaker knowledge or knowledge of article--word combinations, but support the view that performance is based on…

Uses Foucault's work on knowledge and power to show that the politics of language and of researching it are closely related. A study of Cajun French argues that language loss is a social as well as a discursive process and that academic knowledge and discourse both play a significant role in language politics. Advocates the use of local knowledge…

Physicians (N=71) completed a questionnaire about 33 nutrition topics. Perceived knowledge significantly increased except for nutritional biochemistry. Physicians wished to learn more only in the areas of nutrition counseling and nutrition in the life cycle. (DB)

The use of qualitative research methodology in adult education has (1) led to the concepts of marginality, enrollment economy, and perspective transformation; (2) stimulated research in participation, motivation, and self-directed learning; and (3) increased understanding of adult illiterates. Qualitative inquiry has potential for extending the…

Multiple-choice response and scoring methods that attempt to determine an examinee's degree of knowledge about each item in order to produce a total test score are reviewed. There is apparently little advantage to such schemes; however, they may have secondary benefits such as providing feedback to enhance learning. (SLD)

Measured understanding and attitudes about alcoholism by comparing adults attending either alcohol education program or Alcoholics Anonymous program. Found that, for persons in close relationship with alcoholic, intervention programs reinforced knowledge about alcoholism and facilitated attitude change. Pre- to post-test results did not depend on…

Examined two- to four-year-olds' and adults' internalized representations of the sizes of buttons, plates, and shoes in five experiments. Results suggested that three- and four-year-olds had accurate knowledge of the typical sizes of buttons and plates. Two-year-olds demonstrated accurate internal representations of the sizes of shoes. (RJC)