Presents a study of the effects of the presidential debates in the 1976 election on the awareness of political issues. Concludes that the primary effect was to widen the gap between the knowledge-rich and the knowledge-poor. (JMF)

The study's findings revealed significant relationships between economic understanding and the factors of: aptitude; achievement in English, social science, science, and mathematics; age; socioeconomic class; attitudinal sophistication; and business courses taken in high school. The subjects were 188 entering freshmen and 204 second semester…

Research indicates that in general students lack information on the majority of services provided by the student health program and suggests that the most effective means of informing students is through a combination of verbal and printed material. (MB)

Classes participating in pro-environmental activities were studied to determine whether environmental attitudes and knowledge of participants change relative to nonparticipants, and whether student participation influences parental environmental attitudes and knowledge. The program positively affected student attitudes toward the environment but…

Two experiments examined the influence of children's knowledge of spelling and phonology on their syllabification of spoken words. Found that spelling knowledge influenced oral syllabification by older children and adults, but not by 6- and 7- year-olds. Young children, like older children and adults, showed syllabification differences between…

Investigated college students' knowledge of the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. Few students knew what HPV was. Most of the females who had been screened knew that a Pap smear could detect HPV and cervical cancer. Over half of the students did not realize the link between HPV and cervical cancer. Students…

Determined the extent and integration of osteoporosis knowledge in three age groups of women, comparing knowledge to calcium intake and weight bearing physical activity (WBPA). Overall calcium intake was relatively high. There were no differences in knowledge, calcium intake, or WBPA by age, nor did knowledge predict calcium intake and WBPA. None…

Explores what is involved in the teacher's work of engaging students in producing a proof. Analyzes what teachers do to create a task in which students can produce a proof and what teachers do to get students to prove a proposition. Indicates that traditional, formal, two-column proofs place contradictory demands on teachers regarding how ideas…

Surveyed parents of students in the Houston Independent School District to determine preferences regarding immunization clinic site and preferred consent procedures for a Hepatitis B immunization program. Results indicated a significant lack of parent knowledge regarding the Hepatitis B virus. Demographic variables influenced parents' knowledge…

Studied the effects of different kinds of instructional help on the process of coherence formation from multiple representations by learners with different prior knowledge. Results for 3 groups of college students (n=87) show that directive help is effective for recall performance because of its summarizing and repeating function. (SLD)

Explored procedures to detect test takers using item preknowledge in computerized adaptive testing and suggested a Bayesian posterior log odds ratio index for this purpose. Simulation results support the use of the odds ratio index. (SLD)

A theory of acquired similarity and knowledge representation, latent semantic analysis (LSA), is presented to explain how people know as much as they do with the little information they get. LSA suggests that some domains of knowledge contain vast numbers of weak intercorrelations that amplify learning by inference. (SLD)

Compares Piaget's and Vygotsky's interpretations of transmission and transformation. Notes that differences are apparent in the preformation of knowledge, availability of a third alternative to nature and culture, and unity and identity in social interaction. Vygotsky was concerned about the novel transformation of the learner; Piaget, with the…

Two experiments examined young children's use of the familiarity principle when learning language. Found that even 2-year-olds successfully identified the referent of a proper name as the individual with whom the speaker was familiar. However, only 5-year-olds reliably succeeded at determining the individual with whom the speaker was familiar…

Examined faculty advisor perspectives on faculty-student advising interactions. Results included that advisors' knowledge of advising and their preparation contribute to advising success, and that advisors have a concern that the time and importance of good advising are not sufficiently recognized by upper-administrative personnel. (EV)