Describes the revamping of a high school physics course in which students are challenged by open-ended questions, assignments outside the classroom, guest speakers, a physics bowl and physics olympics. Reports on the increased enrollment in the course and the results of the students' test performance. (TW)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the achievement of some abstract concepts in "molecular genetics" and prior knowledge, formal reasoning ability, and sex. The major findings of the study were: (1) prior knowledge had a high significant correlation with the achievement of abstract concepts; (2) the…

This report reviews the accuracy and reasonableness of statements in the print media about student proficiency on the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. It explores the apparent effects of two reporting approaches, the anchor-point method used by the Educational Testing Service and the National Center for…

In fall 1986, a study was conducted at Florence-Darlington Technical College (South Carolina) to measure the reliability and validity of the TEC-MAT, a newly developed entrance test. The TEC-MAT instrument, a criterion-referenced test consisting of 100 items assessing numerical skills, was field tested among a group of entry-level freshmen already…