This study identified and examined the validity of a Brunerian theory-based, aptitude-enhancing, standardized educational simulation by assessing spatial visualization ability of students assigned to simulation and non-simulation treatment groups. Results indicate the simulation increased high aptitude learners' efficiency (and initially…

This study investigated the efficacy of using the advance organizer as a device to improve medical students' understanding of a clinical case simulation on the microcomputer and to enhance performance on a posttest. Advance organizers were found to be effective and most consistent with Mayer's assimilation theory. (MBR)

Discusses educational uses of microcomputers in context of development theories and models of education and describes the development of a computer-supported writing system for the development of academic skills--a children's newswire service--and its influence on the improvement of low-achieving students' reading and writing skills. (MBR)

This study highlights two groups of students enrolled in a college mathematics of finance course using same textbook and instructor. Experimental group used menu-driven symbolic calculators, whereas control group used standard scientific calculators. Significant increases in favor of experimental group were found both with respect to students'…

The differential effects of two different types of problem-solving training on the problem-solving abilities of gifted fourth graders were studied. Two successive classes of gifted fourth graders from Weslaco Independent School District (Texas) were pretested with the Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) and Thinking Creatively With Pictures…

For 17 years, the Fort Worth Independent School District has offered full-day prekindergarten for educationally disadvantaged children residing in Chapter I attendance areas. During the 1984-85 academic year, the program was offered to 1,936 children who were four years old prior to September 1, 1984 and scored seven or fewer items correct on the…

Data from the areas of job satisfaction and job stress are used to illustrate the following points: (1) that measurements can be arranged conceptually along a continuum from the specific to the global (or general); (2) that scales can be constructed which represent different levels of generality, within the same content area; (3) that such scales…

The focus of this paper is the degree to which school effectiveness characteristics are alterable from a measurement perspective. The basis for measurement was the Connecticut School Effectiveness Questionnaire. The sample included seven schools which took the questionnaire for the first time between January and June of 1982 and for the second…

Nuclear war education has become a topic of concern among educators who, on one side, see it as an essential component of undergraduate education or, on the other, see it as political indoctrination dominated by direct and indirect Soviet interests. This study assessed the affective impact of an intensive (eight hours per day for five straight…

Many basic skills are chains of cognitive operations. For teaching such skills, two questions have not been adequately investigated: (1) how the operations comprising the skill should be sequenced, and (2) the relationships among the operations that need to be taught. This investigation entailed four studies on different types and lengths of basic…

This study tested the effects of two instructional sequences--principle-procedure and procedure-principle--on the application and transfer of learning. It was hypothesized that a principle-procedure sequence would result in better near-transfer and far-transfer and that students would prefer this sequence. The 38 freshmen enrolled in a business…

Two studies were conducted to extend the application and explore the parameters of the concept tree and rational set generator instructional design techniques. The first study was conducted with high school English students. Results indicated that students who studied the concept tree performed no differently on the classification tests than…

Describes an investigation of time as a learner variable in an individualized mode of health instruction where time was permitted to vary, hypothesizing that aptitude as measured by a standardized test could correlate more closely with time in instruction than with achievement where students were expected to reach criterion levels. (MBR)

Describes a study which compared the achievement of undergraduate economics students receiving instruction by two different television presentations, one depicting an instructor using a chalkboard, and the other employing animation and graphics. Results indicate differences occurred in immediate and delayed recall measurements on conceptual…

Describes a study of an individualized university mathematics course where students were given a choice of testing options. Topics discussed include measurement of such covariates as age, years at university, enjoyment of mathematics, and quantitative ability, and the relationship of covariates and testing choice. Results indicate students made…