This paper selectively reviews research on the relationship between topic interest and prior knowledge, and discusses the optimal association between these variables. The paper points out that interest has a facilitating impact on learning, and at least part of this effect must be ascribed to prior knowledge. While the interest-knowledge…

This study evaluated 41 Ohio public school teachers' knowledge of inclusion through an achievement test format. The teachers were asked to identify statements related to inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classes as fact or myth. The mean score was 54.9 percent, leading to the conclusion that most educators are not adequately…

This booklet presents an overview of teenage drinking and teenagers' knowledge about drinking. Results from a variety of studies are summarized under these topics phrased as questions: (1) What are the consequences of teenage drinking? (2) How many teenagers and college students binge drink? (3) How big is the problem of teenage drinking? (4) What…

This paper, third in a series of five reports on results of a national study of American attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors toward wildlife and natural habitats, focuses on the American public's attitudes, perceptions, and understanding of animals. Data were derived from questionnaires administered to 3,107 randomly selected Americans (18 years…

Technology contributes to the growth of human knowledge in five distinct, though overlapping, ways: (1) all technologies are material embodiments and thus more or less durable records of ideas that have survived some test with external reality; (2) telescopes, microscopes, and similar technologies extend external experience and knowledge to areas…

Author offered a plan to infuse the school curriculum with economics from the early grades through college. (Editor/RK)

Presents in some detail three so-called generic areas of learning in which the author emphasizes that biological needs, drives and capacities are merely starting points in the acquisition of human knowledge. These interrelated processes are discussed under subtitles: 1) Familial bonding, 2) Institutionalized Education, and 3) Sex-role learning and…

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that measures student knowledge of Afro-American history and culture. The major hypothesis was that students enrolled in Black Studies would be more knowledgeable about Afro-American history. Results support the hypothesis. (Author/HMV)

The practicum was designed to determine if teachers' skills in the area of hyperactivity management could be significantly increased by providing a series of in-service training workshops. The training program was aimed at increasing knowledge about the causes of, and programs associated with, hyperactivity, and also at promoting feelings of…

As part of an ongoing program of research to identify the difficulties encountered by novice programmers and to develop teaching strategies to help them overcome these obstacles, researchers employed a scaffolded interview procedure with 20 high school students enrolled in the second semester of a year-long BASIC course. Investigators presented…

Questionnaires designed to tap misconceptions of the content of psychology courses can serve as pedagogical devices useful for introducing students to topics and for evaluating student learning. The topic of sleep and dreams is of particular interest to students. To develop a useful introductory tool and to evaluate students' knowledge of sleep,…

Depression is a serious health problem and efforts are being made to educate laypeople in relevant ways about symptoms and the course of the disorder, availability of treatments, and related coping strategies. These programs have typically been initiated based more on assumptions regarding community knowledge of depression than on factual data.…

Considerable evidence has been found to support the hypothesis that actors' and observers' attributions diverge. It is also becoming clear that this divergence is not the result of a single process, but is the result of factors which co-occur and differentiate actors from observers. Observers' beliefs about their similarity to actors were…

The study was conducted to determine if (1) teachers and students in education curricula with completion of a course in characteristics of handicapping conditions held more positive attitudes toward handicapped persons than those who had not completed the course and (2) if graduate students or in-service teachers held more positive attitudes…

Colleges should continue to be the manufacturers of conceptual tools and the sources of knowledge renewal, creative criticism, and reflective learning. Overzealous innovative attempts that ignore these functions are bound to become vacuous. (Author/PG)