Research showed that freshmen, particularly first-semester freshmen, are significantly disadvantaged in the study of economics when scheduled with sophomore students. Economics educators should mix students of different collegiate levels only when it is justified by other educational considerations. (Author/RM)

Describes 10 categories of inferences and proposes a three-step procedure for teaching students to make inferences while reading. (HOD)

Issues relating to identifying pathways whereby pharmacy practioners can obtain additional training and experience leading to an advanced professional degree or certificate are identified. A scheme for assessing the prior learning of external degree or certificate candidates is suggested. (MLW)

Argues that there is more to background experience than general knowledge--that concepts of print, language, story structue, and of reading's usefulness are equally important in developing early reading skills. (FL)

Reading has been perceived as a dynamic transactional process wherein readers negotiate meaning with writers by virtue of their prior knowledge. The act of meaning construction is realized primarily through the exploration of intertextual links that connect various sources of texts the readers have composed or experienced. Readers utilize…

Asking how what an individual knows shapes the ways in which he or she reads, this book starts from the premise that any productive theory of narrative must take into account the presuppositions the reader brings to the text. The book explores how prior knowledge of literary conventions influences the processes of interpretation and evaluation. It…

This study hypothesized that students in a course on mental retardation (MR) who had had extended contact with retarded people would achieve more favorable attitudes toward mental retardation than students without similar contact. Students enrolled in a Psychology of Mental Retardation class were randomly assigned to a control group (n=29) or an…

This book targets teachers in higher education as well as in adult education, illustrating how to work toward becoming more authentic in teaching using case studies, examples, stories, and exercises. Chapter 1 explores current understanding of the basic self and psychological preferences. Chapter 2 discusses the powerful influence of past…

An earlier review by the author reported an aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) relating instructional feedback and prior knowledge. For low prior knowledge learners, single-try feedback (STF) was slightly superior to multiple-try feedback (MTF), while for high prior knowledge learners, MTF was superior to STF. In the current report, raw score…

The separate and interactive effects of three kinds of background knowledge (content area, context of materials presentation, and lexical items in the text) on reading comprehension were studied. Unlike native readers, nonnatives neither show significant effects of background knowledge nor appear to have a good sense of the text's difficulty. (MSE)

Social studies educators interested in estimating the comprehensibility of social studies textbooks should pay attention to concepts. The assumptions of previous learning, the development and presentation of concepts, and concept loading are discussed. (RM)

Adult students are forced to choose between traditional courses and independent studies and the assessment of learning. An alternative is discussed--educational workshops that focus on the theories in a field and the relationships between those theories and practical experience. (Author/MLW)

The unique opportunities and problems that come with serving diversely prepared learners are discussed. The concept of "diverse preparation" is illustrated with brief sketches of three students, and the ways in which institutions respond to diversity or preparation are examined. (MLW)

It was found that those who read English as a second language (ESL), like L1 individuals, use their knowledge of the world and contribute to information found in the text. However, ESL readers' contributions to the text may be marred by language interference, lack of background knowledge, faulty inferencing, and certain data- and…

Prior learning assessment programs are characterized as having a highly individualized service or a more standardized pattern. Three model programs are described: Webster College in St. Louis, Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island, and Sinclair Community College in Dayton. (Author/MLW)