Examines the changing role of controlled vocabulary in the postcoordinate online search, particularly its current role in the formulation of online search strategies. Effects of controlled vocabulary searching on precision and recall and examples of concept "hedges" from the "Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors" are discussed. Nine…

Using an analytically organized list of critical attributes and their relationships resulted in better performance than using best examples in classifying examples, but the former required a longer time to complete the instruction booklet. Presentation of best examples facilitated prototype formation in memory and resulted in a higher degree of…

An overview of educational evaluation literature is followed by summaries of research on both the perceptions of school principals about their awareness and use of evaluation in decision-making and their evaluation behavior. New lines of research on evaluation for decision-making as a learning process are offered. (MLF)

This study was concerned with assessing knowledge of concept interrelationships. Comparisons were made between performance on the concept comparison task (making a comparative judgment in the form of a rating on each pair of a set of concept labels) and essay test performance. (Author/PN)

The relationships between three types of tasks were investigated with 428 children from kindergarten through grade 6 showing that correspondence, seriation, and transitivity reflected different underlying concepts. Thus, it was concluded that neither correspondence nor transitivity tasks can serve as replacements for traditional seriation tasks in…

Reports on a study designed to ascertain the proportion of children at different Piagetian stages of development in the general population, in selective schools, and in super-selective schools. Advocates the use of developmental data in curriculum development work. (GS)

This article suggests the importance of structure and sequence in designing a program of map reading and interpretation. It focuses upon the use of maps on ever-decreasing scales, from the large scale topographical maps to small atlas maps, and the associated use of oblique aerial photographs. (Editor)

The concept of criterion referenced testing is examined and compared with that of norm referenced testing in terms of statistical translation problems and the relative merits of both testing concepts. (JC)

American thought has contained a strong metaphysical bias favoring a realist interpretation of the world, and this has led to the assumption that facts possess ontological status, however, facts are segments of human experience and students must acquire conceptual tools for extracting factual data from experience. (JD)

This is a detailed review of studies of extinction of Piagetian concepts, stressing that interpretation of such research is complicated by methodological problems, some avoidable, some intrinsic to the extinction paradigm; and that this paradigm retains the potential for contributing important information about the nature of concrete-operational…

Three sequences of moves were compared on the immediate acquistion and short-term retention of conjunctive and relational mathematical concepts by 27 college general mathematics students. The exemplification-sequence was significantly better on immediate acquisition for the conjunctive concept at low and high achievement levels. (DT)

Explores the use of concepts in geography teaching in Australia and reviews the relevant literature on the development of geographical concepts. For journal availability, see SO 505 212. (Author/DB)

This paper examines how using a series of lessons developed from the history of research on sickle cell anemia affects preservice teacher conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The importance of a pedagogy that has students do science through an integral use of the history of science is effective at enriching students' NOS views is presented.…

This paper describes the Rational Number Project (RNP), teaching experiments concerned with the teaching and learning of fractions among 4th and 5th grade students. Interviews with 4th grade students who used the RNP curriculum and with students who used a traditional curriculum were conducted by RNP staff as well as classroom teachers. This paper…

The development of proportional reasoning is a major focus of the middle grades curriculum. The challenge for educators is to find contexts that engage students and that facilitate the study of proportional reasoning. This chapter explores proportional thinking with students in grades 3-8 by using a number of books in which the underlying stories…