Explores the influence of reading comprehension on the acquisition of word meanings from context and compares it to the effects of local context characteristics, such as proximity and directness of context clues. Indicates that reading-comprehension level and prior main-concept knowledge facilitate vocabulary learning from context. (DSK)

Surveys of college students investigated their HIV/AIDS knowledge. Results indicated that significant sex differences existed on most subscales. Important gaps in students' knowledge include lack of awareness of HIV transmission through oral sex or from mother to infant, belief that donating blood can cause one to contract HIV, and lack of…

Study determines the extent to which counselors in Kentucky schools have adopted computers. The rate at which computer technology is growing is making their effective use difficult and expensive because older models lack the ability to run programs designed for counseling-related applications. Computers represent a resource that is not being used…

Five experiments tested whether children understand pretense intentions before they understand pretense mental representations. Findings revealed that children did not understand that intention is crucial to pretense. Various methodological factors that might have compromised results such as force choice versus yes-no questions or using a…

Maintains that Lillard's and Joseph's articles provide an example of how apparently divergent empirical results may turn out to reflect interesting differences between children and adults. The researchers agreed that for young children, pretense is often, but not necessarily, intentional and neither found evidence for a representational…

Describes the initial assessment of a range of knowledge and skills that might be desired in first-year entrants to some engineering and mathematics programs. Results are expressed in terms of probable preparedness. Discusses how information obtained can be used to design appropriate teaching, learning, and assessment strategies to best meet the…

Discusses the increasing numbers of graduate theology students, both part-time and full-time, who have little knowledge of the Bible, theological concepts, and church history. Suggests this is due to the decline of liberal arts education, the marginalization of religious instruction, and a radical change in the type of students who may be new…

The conception of knowledge was studied for 213 14- and 15-year-old students in Singapore and their 37 teachers and 96 students in the United States, with their 10 teachers. Cultural differences, including those in epistemological frameworks, are discussed, and their implications for education considered. (SLD)

All evaluators should know evaluation theory because it is central to their professional identity. It defines "who they are." Every profession needs a unique knowledge base, and for evaluators, evaluation theory is that knowledge base. (Author/SLD)

Examined in 4 experiments 2-year-olds' knowledge of solidity in search tasks. Found no evidence that 2-year-olds represented solidity and support constraints on trajectories of falling objects; two experiments included 2.5-year-olds who succeeded on search tasks. Explored implications of 2-year-olds' poor performance in light of very young…

Two experiments with 40 children (grades 4 to 8) found the children often used their knowledge of derivational suffixes in defining low-frequency derivatives, and knowledge of suffixes was significantly correlated with suffix production in a nonsense task. The children's morphological awareness of derivational suffixes included semantic…

Reports a study that investigated knowledge level about sickle cell disease among students at a predominantly black university. Survey results indicated the students most directly concerned did not well understand the basic facts about sickle cell disease. Most students could not recall whether they had ever been tested. (SM)

In two experiments involving 195 high school students, independent measures of detection and correction of grammar, spelling, and meaning errors in text were examined. With the exception of spelling errors, knowledge of how to correct an error was necessary but not sufficient for detection. (SLD)

Young and middle-age adult college students (n=241) completed an attitude scale indicating that age is associated with their knowledge of elderly sexuality. Contact and closeness with grandparents predicted more favorable attitudes toward elderly sexuality. For young adults without grandparent contact, the relationship between knowledge and…

Some specific person-fit results for the Rasch model are presented, followed by an application to a test measuring knowledge of reasoning with logical quantors. Some issues are relevant to all attempts to use person-fit statistics in research, but the special role of the Rasch model is highlighted. (SLD)