An approach to teaching the mental status examination to sophomore medical students at the Wayne State University School of Medicine incorporates live simulations, a detailed handout, a pretest and post-test, and a short lecture and discussion. The data suggest significant post-test gains, but there were negative findings regarding the handout.…

The effects of continuing education programs on the knowledge of perinatal nurses were analyzed, using a pretest/post-test design. The hypothesis was confirmed that exposure to multiple continuing education programs is more effective than attendance at single, isolated programs. (MH)

Recommends pretesting intermediate grade students' basal skills to eliminate unnecessary basal skill instruction. Provides guidelines for pretesting reading comprehension skills. (MM)

Conducted a study to examine the influence of grouping, by means of cooperative learning, on elementary preservice teachers' (n=84) science teaching efficacy. Confirms the relative superiority of heterogeneous cooperative learning. Concludes that a well-designed science teaching methods experience can enhance the development of science teaching…

Described a probe that can assess the learners' understanding of scientific ideas in conditions that do not demand closure on a single interpretation, and where learners can demonstrate certainty or otherwise in several possible alternatives. Can be used in monitoring conceptual change when intuitive understanding of scientific phenomena is to be…

The development of a project to assess the effectiveness of schools in a large urban school district is described in this paper, with a focus on improving the validity of school effectiveness instruments. Purposes of the project were to develop a methodology for reporting effective school strategies and to generate a broader profile of schools'…

A pilot essay was included in the 1985 Spring and Fall administrations of the Medical College Admission Test. A sample of 320 of the essays written by Fall examinees who had expressed an interest in allopathic medicine was used to calculate interrater reliability estimates. Sixteen of 20 readers who had been trained by White's suggestions for…

THREE GROUPS OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN WERE ESTABLISHED IN ORDER TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT ON ACHIEVEMENT OF PROVIDING SOME CHILDREN WITH A PRESCHOOL PROGRAM AND SOME CHILDREN WITH NO SUCH PROGRAM. AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OF HEAD START CHILDREN WERE MATCHED ACCORDING TO SEX, RACE, GENERAL LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE, AND PARENT'S OCCUPATIONAL LEVEL WITH A…

This paper describes the development, utility, and validity of the Situational Self-statement and Affective State Inventory (SSASI), a research inventory designed to assess cognitions and affects across a variety of five hypothetical situations. Each situation describes a realistic incident involving interpersonal conflict, principally criticism…

To evaluate changes of attitude by vocational educators during a summer workshop in educational research, statistical data was obtained from a sample of four school administrators and 12 vocational education teachers who attended the workshop. Chi-square analysis and a Z test were utilized in evaluating attitude changes based on a pre- and a…

Part of the Syracuse (New York) city school district's guided occupational orientation program, the document consists of a teacher's manual and a pre-post test answer key. The teacher's manual contains forms, data, and procedures for the teacher's use in instructing grade 6 pupils in individualized career studies in various occupations. Each…

A functional (as opposed to structural) theory of intellectual development is presented and used to generate specific performance models for Piagetian tasks involving the control of variables (cf. Inhelder and Piaget, 1958). On the basis of these models, it is concluded that intelligent, field independent 7- and 8-year-olds should be able to…

Aptitude-treatment interaction research is designed to identify significant disordinal interactions between personological variables and alternative instructional programs. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of the aptitude treatment interaction design to research seeking to identify differential educational payoff of alternative…

Seventh grade students (N=9) from a small rural school in Ridgway, Colorado were exposed to a teacher-developed individualized program in modern math during the 1962-63 school year and again the following year. The students were divided into an average and above group and a below average group; group assignments were determined by IQ scores, the…

After offering some possible explanations for the existing inadequacies in evaluating organizational training programs, the authors discuss several evaluation issues, particularly internal validity. Methods for overcoming evaluation inadequacies and the implications for better controlled evaluation designs are also covered. (EM)