This study investigated the effects of sequence and synthesis prescriptions from the Elaboration Theory by teaching the parts of a microcomputer system based on a parts-conceptual structure. A 2x3 factorial design was used which incorporated two sequences, general-to-detailed and detailed-to-general, and three levels of synthesizer, i.e., no…

Determined how 430 eighth-grade students perceived science teaching as a career. One area investigated was the relationship between student ratings of science teaching as a career and such variables as sex, race, age, educational aspirations, and mother's/father's education and job type. (JN)

Four types of computational estimation were explored in relation to other mathematical skills and sex differences with 309 eighth graders. Open-ended estimation was the most difficult, followed by estimation relative to a reference number and estimation within an order of magnitude. (MNS)

Divided into poor readers and good readers, 144 Swedish students (13-14 years old) participated in an experiment in which oral reading speed, free recall, and summarization of narrative stories presented on videotex were studied as a function of reading skill, text structure, and physical factors. Good readers outperformed poor readers. (BRR)

Since the Internet was introduced in the field of Educational Technology, it has predominantly been seen as an instructional tool. A number of educational technologists point out that the Internet can be a powerful instructional tool that encourages learners to be involved in problem-solving by using a great deal of information and to enlarge and…

This study investigated the perception of emotions and the social skills of 60 eighth-graders, half with and half without learning disabilities (LD). Results indicated that the performance of LD adolescents was significantly poorer than peers in the perception of emotion via either auditory, visual, or combined auditory-visual modes. Although both…

This research explores the moment-by-moment understanding students exhibit in the learning of a non-physical science domain--the human circulatory system. The goal was to understand how students learn by capturing the nature of their initial mental models (naive conceptions), and by seeing how new information gets assimilated into their mental…

This paper presents a literature review related to the time spent teaching science and a study designed to test the hypothesis that student achievement in science is related to classroom hours devoted to science instruction. The study involved testing two groups of eighth grade earth science students (N=200) over instructional material presented…

The concept of three curriculums--intended, implemented, and attained--is central to this report. In the second international mathematics study, students were surveyed at age 13 (grade 8 in the United States) and in the terminal grade of secondary schooling; this analysis is limited to the first group. How each of the three curriculums was…

Discusses the results of a study of the teaching and learning of mathematics in 21 countries, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Reports that a clear distinction between support for broad educational objectives and for the learning of narrow skills did not exist among teachers. (SG)

Research finds that the availability of specific coping resources can alleviate the more harmful effects of stress among adolescents. Although studies have investigated the relationship between coping resources and various outcomes among general samples of youth, no research has focused on adolescents who report high personal standards in…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Groups of Four" program, examining the impact of the cooperative learning strategy on students' achievement in mathematical problem solving. Effects of three specific independent variables in the program were examined in terms of gender, group assignment, and ability,…

This packet of materials is for use by school librarians participating in a study of eighth-grade students' attitudes and the relationship of these attitudes to use of the school library. Included is a schedule of activities and an outline of procedures to be followed in the following activities: selection of students to attend six consecutive…

Two matched forms of a 50 item grammar test were developed. Twenty items designed to be humorous were included in one form. Inclusion of humorous items did not affect grammar scores on matched humorous/nonhumorous items, nor on commmon post-treatment items. Inclusion did not affect results of anxiety measures. (Author/DWH)

Analysis of 19 language features in impromptu essays written by 96 students (half males, half females) from grades 4, 8, and 12 enabled researchers to identify the gender of the writer 84-87 percent of the time. Further analyses established a relationship between this "gender-linked language effect" and subjective attributional ratings by…