A method designed to facilitate prediction of mechanism and products by developing critical thinking skills and reducing memorization is presented. The mechanistic disc method requiring students to utilize their understanding of charge stabilization, structural organic chemistry, and the fundamental mechanisms of aliphatic substitution and…

Objective: To estimate the applicability of an extended version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting self-perceived sugar intake among adolescents in Uganda. Method: Two questionnaires were completed involving 1146 and 372 secondary school adolescents. Confirmatory factor and path analyses were performed using Amos software.…

Objectives: To prospectively examine demographic background, personality, perceived environment, and behavior as violence perpetration predictors in emerging adulthood among high-risk adolescents using problem-behavior theory as a conceptual perspective. Methods: Self-report questionnaires were administered 5 years apart to 676 participants.…

As the rapidity with which medical knowledge is generated and disseminated becomes amplified, an increasing emphasis has been placed on the need for physicians to develop the skills necessary for life-long learning. One such skill is the ability to evaluate one's own deficiencies. A ubiquitous finding in the study of self-assessment, however, is…

A number of experimental data have shown that naming latency increases with length for pseudo-words but not for frequent real words. Different interpretations have been proposed by current models of reading to account for such a length effect. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of lexicality on length effect in both the reading…

Study 1 retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological and psychoeducational tests given to N = 220 first graders, with follow-up assessments in third and eighth grade. Four predictor constructs were derived: (1) Phonemic Awareness, (2) Picture Vocabulary, (3) Rapid Naming, and (4) Single Word Reading. Together, these accounted for 88%, 76%, 69%, and…

We evaluated the predictive accuracy of short forms of the Wechsler intelligence scales for individuals with high functioning autism. Several short forms were derived from participants who had received the full procedure. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the strength of association between the subtests included in…

The present experiments assessed the effects of different manipulations between cue preexposure and cue-outcome pairings on latent inhibition (LI) in a predictive learning task with human participants. To facilitate LI, preexposure and acquisition with the target cues took place while participants performed a secondary task. Presentation of…

If an effective school is defined as a school that causes student improvement on a number of important educational outcomes, the problem of identifying effective schools becomes one of establishing legitimate predictions of student performance and comparing those predictions to actual student or school outcomes. In attempting to identify effective…

The use of multivariate statistics in the social sciences is essential given that the studied effects are seldom influenced by only a single variable, and instead are usually influenced by multiple variables. One multivariate technique, discriminant function analysis, has potential for many applications in the social sciences. Discriminant…

The Tutorial Assistance Program (TAP) of the University of California (Irvine) is described and a new method of evaluation is illustrated through an analysis of the performance of students in six large introductory classes. This approach to evaluation starts with a multiple regression equation for predicting course grades of those not in tutoring…

The majority of depressive symptoms, prevalent among adults (without a history of a depressive disorder) entering alcohol treatment, usually abate within 2 to 3 weeks of abstinence without specific depression-focussed intervention, but some hospitalized alcoholics experience significant depressive symptoms despite sustained abstinence. Such…

This study analyzed and tested the equivalence of Forms A and B of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). In designing the CCTST, Form A was composed of 34 items from a bank of 200. To develop a parallel measure, Form B was developed by rewriting 28 of the 34 items and rearranging their order. Study participants were all entering…

The literature on validity provides much more guidance on how to collect various kinds of validity evidence than it does on which kinds of evidence to collect in specific cases. An argument-based approach to validation redresses the balance by linking the kinds of evidence needed to validate a test-score interpretation to the details of the…

A description of rural school context variables for successful staff development and an empirical study of large-scale rural intervention are presented in this report. Drawing from research, literature, and practice based on nonrural populations, context variables are identified for implementing effective staff development intervention in rural…