This volume is the first of 5 constituting the final research project report on the introduction, use, and impact of ThinkAbout, a series of 60 15-minute instructional television programs for fifth and sixth graders designed to strengthen reasoning skills and to review and to reinforce language arts, mathematics, and study skills. Background…

A content analysis was conducted for all 60 programs of ThinkAbout, an instructional television series designed to strengthen the reasoning skills of fifth and sixth graders and to review and reinforce language arts, mathematics, and study skills. The study comprised separate analyses of three concerns: (1) demographic characteristics of…

Examines the use of clinical interviews as a complement to more typical achievement tests. The research focused on the learning outcomes resulting from second grade students' viewing of television program on magnets. Results indicated that clinical interviews provided evidence of effective instruction when achievement tests did not. (ML)

A series of studies are underway at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Audience Research Facility to examine the impact of interactivity on informational and entertainment based television viewing. In order to examine the learning of spatial skills from videogames, the first study compared the learning of spatial content from interactive…

A questionnaire developed in six languages--English, French, German, Polish, Russian, and Spanish--was mailed to more than 1,500 organizations known by the FernUniversitat in West Germany to be connected in some way to distance education, correspondence education, or home study. The study was undertaken as a response to the lack of systematic…

A foreword by Arthur M. Sullivan and an introduction by Jon P. Baggaley introduce the 12 conference papers included in this collection. The papers are as follows: (1) "Research on 'Sesame Street': Designing the Educational Context" (Rodney Dennis); (2) "'Sesame Street' in Labrador" (Graham Skanes and Lorne Taylor); (3)…

This report presents a review of key research on public broadcasting and a synthesis of the actuality of public service broadcasting today in the face of increasing globalization, with case studies from 16 countries. Following the General Introduction (Pierre Juneau), the report is divided into two parts. Part 1--"Public Service Television in…

Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 47 papers, in which research reports dominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., problem-solving skills, motivation, comparison of instructional design strategies, effects of organizational cues and text layouts, and…

This document describes an exploratory study done with the purpose of finalizing a formative evaluation instrument for an educational television pilot program for the series "Ziki Zikombot," which is designed to teach basic scientific concepts to children 3- to 7-years-old. For the purposes of the study, it was hypothesized that the more…

The Educational Technology Center (ETC) was established by the National Institute of Education in October, 1983, in order to find ways of using the computer and other information technologies to teach science, mathematics, and computing more effectively. This report describes the ETC, presents its framework for research, and summarizes work on 14…

In 1992, Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) adopted 24 higher education goals that would fulfill its vision statement and address needs identified in its task force report. Baseline data for these goals were gathered in 1993, and annual data have been collected through state and federal surveys completed by the state's…