Social promotion has long been the normal practice in American schools. Critics of this practice, whereby students are promoted to the next grade regardless of academic preparation, have suggested that students would benefit academically if they were made to repeat a grade. Supporters of social promotion claim that retaining students disrupts them…

Background: Politeness strategies vary from language to language and within each society. At times the wrong strategies can have disastrous effects. This can occur when languages are used by non-native speakers or when they are used outside of their own home linguistic context. Purpose: This study of spoken language compares the politeness…

More attention and resources have been devoted in recent years to early childhood development (ECD) in low- and middle-income countries. Rigorous studies on the effectiveness of ECD-related programs for improving children's development in various dimensions in the developing world are scant. The authors evaluate an important ECD initiative of the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of scientific discussions based on student-constructed pre- and post-laboratory concept maps on students' attitudes toward chemistry laboratory in the university general chemistry. As part of instruction, during the first four laboratory sessions, students were taught how to construct and…

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of computer-based learning and traditional method on students' attitudes and achievement towards analytical chemistry. Students from Chemistry Education Department at Dokuz Eylul University (D.E.U) were selected randomly and divided into three groups; two experimental (Eg-1 and Eg-2) and a control…

This thesis investigates the effects of using computer-assisted instruction to supplement traditional classroom methods in high school physics. Students were divided into two groups, experimental and control, with the experimental group receiving the supplement of a drill and practice exercise by microcomputer. After a 2-week study, data was…

Using a multiple-choice test and a story frame test, this study measured the effect on reading comprehension of reading a story aloud to English-as-a-Second-Language students. Findings indicate that these students outperformed on both tests those students who read the story silently. (Six references) (Author/CK)

Toddlers in the lowest 10th percentile for lexical production were compared with age- and language-matched controls on measures of phonetic complexity, lexical development, and grammatical complexity. Results indicate an overlap between phonology, lexicon, and grammar and suggest the importance of true consonant production for lexical development.…

Discussion of locus of control (LOC), gender, and mathematics and technical subjects focuses on a study of preschool girls and boys that investigated the effects of a LOGO program on efficacy and LOC. Highlights include treatment of experimental and control groups; gender differences; parent questionnaires; and pretests and posttests. (69…

Seventeen of the Child Well-Being Scales were used as measures of the physical and psychological care of children. Comparisons between neglectful families and low-income control families yielded predicted differences. Composite indices showed good internal consistency. Concurrent validity was supported. Scales reliably classified neglectful and…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

In two experiments, 102 mechanically naive college students viewed an animation on bicycle tire pump operation with a verbal description before or during the animation or without description. Improved performance of those receiving description during the animation supports a dual-coding hypothesis of connections between visual and verbal stimuli.…

This commentary on EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, emphasizes the need for replication. The replication study should use random assignment to experimental and control groups, a larger sample of cases, standard diagnostic instruments to delineate…

An experimental group of students from an introductory engineering graphics class was required to watch 30 videotapes that presented basic concepts of engineering graphics, whereas a control group had no access to the videotapes. No differences were established between the groups. (JJK)

This research study provides evidence indicating that students who receive appropriately chosen computer software tutorials as homework assignments attain higher achievement results than do those students who receive the traditional paper-and-pencil exercises as homework assignments. (JJK)