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)

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…

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)

The study investigated retention of gains in reading/language skills after one year by 378 eighth-grade students in 18 health studies classrooms. Six classrooms were assigned to each of three groups, two experimental and one control, taught by health science teachers who were: (1) trained in reading/language techniques; (2) not trained in…

This paper presents an in-depth study of the effect of opportunity to learn (OTL) on eighth-grade students based on mathematics performance in an international setting. Item screening reduced the original 199 items from the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) to 152 items for which both OTL and p-values were reported across all items for…

This study examined the effects of episodic-mapping, traditional notetaking, and rereading on eighth-grade students' recall of historical text. Episodic-maps are a kind of notetaking procedure that requires students to represent ideas from a text in the form of a graphic diagram. As predicted, both episodic-mapping and traditional notetaking…

A multiple-group, single-intervention intensive time-series design was used to examine the achievement of an abstract concept, plate tectonics, of students grouped on the basis of cognitive tendency. Two questions were addressed: (1) How do daily achievement patterns differ between formal and concrete cognitive tendency groups when learning an…

This paper reports the evaluation of instructional provisions designed to foster higher cognitive skill in a computer programming course. This intervention explicitly encourages novice programmers to engage in the problem-solving skill of planning. (Author)

The effects of judgmental and non-judgmental computer assisted instruction (CAI) feedback on the self-esteem and mathematics achievement of remedial level junior high school students were examined. Each of 44 eighth-grade mathematics students was given a self-esteem pretest questionnaire, completed a basic mathematics facts drill and practice CAI…

This research evaluated the desirability of science teaching as a career as rated by eighth grade students. An instrument was developed on which respondents placed their own choice of best and worst possible careers as endpoints on a 10 point scale. Forty-five additional careers, including careers in science teaching, science, and teaching of…

To investigate the factors determining why some children succeed at certain intellectual tasks while others of equal or near equal IQ, age, and motivation are unable to master the same task, 145 female and 144 male eighth grade students were administered "An Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks" (IPDT). Labeled as concrete,…

Examined are the sex differences in mathematics achievement from a cross-cultural perspective using the data of the Second International Mathematics Study. The overall sex differences in geometry and measurement areas are reported. It was found that differences among countries were greater than sex differences. (YP)