Reports a study that used focus group discussions to evaluate fifth graders' understanding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome before receiving HIV education. Results indicated students' conceptions about HIV were more naive than expected. The focus groups were effective in evaluating students' process of…

Analyzes key assumptions and moral philosophies pervading education, suggesting alternative paths for creating educational programs that readily embrace the end values of U.S. society. The article suggests that administration experts function as a myth in U.S. society and recommends that such expertise be reconceived as a critical and moral…

The effects of age, response modality, and specific emotion on knowledge of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in 45 preschoolers of 26-54 months were examined by means of puppet presentations. Results emphasize the emerging but sizable understanding of emotion on the part of young preschoolers. (CB)

Study examined the ways preservice teachers made curriculum decisions for elementary classrooms. Participants created three approaches to curriculum integration, and researchers compared their underlying beliefs. Results indicated students needed a stronger knowledge base and a more deliberative stance toward curriculum development. The study…

Problem-solving models in memories of 11 good and 12 poor novice first-year university students were studied. The students reconstructed physics problems seen briefly, relying on models in memory. Both good and poor students had models of problem situations at their disposal, but good students performed better than poor students. (SLD)

A conceptual framework is presented for organizing and relating terms pertaining to select knowledge constructs. In constructing this framework, definitions are derived for 27 basic terms essential for understanding literature on learning and literacy. Implications of this terminology for research and instructional practice are discussed. (SLD)

Students tend to emphasize important information more than less important information in their lecture notes. Whether this strategy changes with lecture repetition was investigated in 3 experiments with 71 undergraduate students. Students' assessments and shifts of strategy with lecture repetition are discussed. (SLD)

Describes two kinds of relationships between the professional knowledge and personal practical knowledge of teachers and teacher educators, stating that (1) professional knowledge depends upon individual cognitive structures with the interaction between the two resulting in personal and idiosyncratic knowledge and (2) personal attributes affect…

What has been said about what teachers do and know is integrated into a theoretical framework for the education and assessment of teachers, addressing (1) why a theoretical framework is necessary; (2) what a comprehensive framework might be; and (3) how the proposed framework might be used. (SLD)

Rural high school students (32 with learning disabilities and 40 nondisabled) were compared on career maturity. Results indicated that learning-disabled students were less mature on both career attitude and competencies. The underlying structure of subjects' attitude was distinguished by Involvement and Independence. In the competence area, the…

Three experiments (initial total sample of 190 college students) examined students' long-term retention of knowledge learned in college courses. Results of all experiments suggest that students remember a great deal of what they learn up to 11 months later and that tutoring has positive effects on recall by tutors. (SLD)

This study of 48 individuals with visual impairments (16 middle-aged with experience in synthetic speech, 16 middle-aged inexperienced, and 16 older inexperienced) found that speech synthesis, compared to natural speech, generally yielded lower results with respect to memory and understanding of texts. Experience had no effect on performance.…

Discussions conducted with people with visual impairments indicated that clients undergoing mobility training first need to overcome inhibitions, stress, and anxieties, which are influenced by the timing of and their readiness for mobility training, insufficient information about mobility, feelings of isolation and helplessness, and lack of…

Argues that ignorance is a better criterion than truth for determining the usefulness of knowledge generated through educational research. Implications for conceptualizing and teaching research are discussed, illustrating how attention to ignorance can increase understanding in areas such as practitioner research and cooperative research. (SLD)

This paper describes an awareness project involving presentations to secondary school students on the nature of learning disabilities. A university student with learning disabilities gave the presentation to approximately 450 students in 24 Newfoundland schools. Participants rated the presentation highly and demonstrated better understanding of…