Considers four major decisions to illustrate the complexity of decision making about pretesting as part of the instructional process: whether a pretest should be administered; the behaviors that should be pretested; how pretesting should be accomplished; and how teaching strategies should be adjusted to pretest results. (MBR)

The cognitive styles of fifth-grade students and their teachers were assessed. Some teachers were made aware of the educational implications of field-dependence-independence and of the individual styles of their students and themselves. Self-concept and attitude toward school were measured prior to and at the conclusion of the experiment.…

The biasing effects of a pretest on subsequent post-test results were investigated in two experimental studies. In general, the results argue for using designs without pretests. (Author/JKS)

Reading science text is not simply a process of translating printed symbols into meaning; it involves the interaction of the reader's prior knowledge, beliefs, concurrent experience, and the text in a sociocultural context to construct new meaning and understanding. The purposes of this study were to: explore the associations between metacognition…

In a review of instruments measuring gender-related constructs, a number of shortcomings were found in existing scales. A new scale to measure sex-role attitudes was developed and tested by first proposing the construct of sex-role egalitarianism and then initiating the process of construct validation by developing a reliable measure of the…

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO FIND OUT WHAT MENTAL PROCESSES ARE INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF CONSERVATION OF CONTINUOUS QUANTITY, AT WHAT AGES THESE PROCESSES ARE DEVELOPED IN CHILDREN, AND WHETHER THEY ARE ADEQUATELY EXPLAINED BY PIAGET'S THEORY. ONE HUNDRED 5.75 TO 7-YEAR-OLDS WITH A MEAN I.Q. OF 105 WERE PRETESTED AND CLASSIFIED AS…

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TESTS OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCATION WERE USED TO DETERMINE THE DEGREE OF IMPROVEMENT ACHIEVED BY 2,300 FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS WHO RECEIVED ADVANCED TRAINING IN THE 1966 NDEA SUMMER FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTITUTES. TEACHERS OF FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, RUSSIAN, AND SPANISH IN 52 INSTITUTES WERE TESTED AT THE BEGINNING…

This supporting statement accompanied the first followup questionnaire for the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, when it was submitted for government clearance. The first part of the statement gives the background, uses, and justification of the survey; the largest part describes the plans for the first follow-up…

The Adult Education Outreach Program in Monangalia County was designed to meet an apparent need and assess the feasibility of developing similar programs in other areas of West Virginia. Goals and assessment of success were based on these four research questions: (1) Will adults who need skills in solving consumer problems avail themselves of the…

TO FIND OUT IF CULTURALLY DEPRIVED CHILDREN SHOW CHANGE IN ACADEMIC READINESS AS A RESULT OF SPECIAL PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS, 3 GROUPS OF CHILDREN (14 TO 17 IN EACH) IN 3 DULUTH SCHOOL AREAS WERE PRE- AND POSTTESTED WITH THE STANFORD-BINET AND SRA PRIMARY MENTAL ABILITIES TESTS. A CONTROL GROUP OF 30 CHILDREN FROM THE SAME 3 SCHOOL AREAS WERE GIVEN THE…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of visual perceptual training on word recognition and reading achievement of disadvantaged first grade pupils. The experimental groups received the Frostig Program for the Development of Visual Perception in addition to the regular readiness program for a period of 12 weeks. The control…

Introductory psychology students were subjects in an investigation to determine the covariation among achievement, attitudes toward a course, and attitudes taught as part of a course. In addition, data obtained allowed for evaluation of two theoretical models of pretest sensitization, the first in terms of learner involvement and the second in…

The purpose of this project was to develop computer assisted courses in arithmetic and reading for disadvantaged adults and youths to serve as prerequisites to entering vocational training. Because of budgetary cuts, the project was terminated before its completion. Lessons in counting, addition, and subtraction were written and tested; however,…

A research project was conducted to study the effects of an 8-week prekindergarten enrichment program and of two 15-month preschool enrichment programs. Pretest and posttest scores of experimental and control kindergarten children (a sample of 100 out of 1,000 subjects) showed that both groups made significant gains in all ability categories o f…