Community-based educational programs for older adults are difficult to evaluate due to randomization and control factors. In order to investigate, under a quasi-experimental research design, the contribution of an educational program on retirement issues to participants' quality of life, and to study the program enrollment patterns, 21 people…

Provides an overview of the School of Law and Government currently housed at the magnet school, Jefferson High School (Rochester, NY). Describes a quasi-experimental study of the program's effectiveness, results of which have been used to revise the curriculum and support needed staff development. (JDH)

The extent to which the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) measures aspects of personality and cognitive impairment was explored in 81 male alcoholics receiving treatment for alcoholism. Results suggest GEFT may be more a measure of cognitive impairment than personality. Alternative explanations are explored. (Author/RL)

Evaluated the effects of the study skills enhancement technique taught at Bowling Green State University Study Skills Laboratory on the test-taking performance of Sociology 101 students. Found that those students who participated in the program four or more hours per week performed better on tests. (SLM)

Examines the effect of economics instruction on ninth-grade student attitudes toward economic topics using the Economics Values Inventory. Finds that economics instruction has a measurable impact on student economic attitudes and reinforces developmental trends resulting in greater commitment to the system of economic production and diminished…

The mental model theory of naive causal understanding and reasoning (Goldvarg & Johnson-Laird, 2001, Cognitive Science, 25, 565-610) claims that people distinguish between causes and enabling conditions on the basis of sets of models that represent possible causal situations. In the tasks used to test this hypothesis, however, the proposed set of…

The objectives of the study are to assess the impact of a community-based bicycle-helmet program aimed at children aged 5-12 years (about 140,000). A quasi-experimental design, including a control group, was used. Sex- and age-group-based changes in the risk of bicycle-related head injury leading to hospitalisation were measured, using rate…

This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of different types of income poverty measures--absolute, relative, and a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "quasi-relative" one--and empirically assesses them by tracking their performance over time and across demographic groups. Part of the assessment involves comparing these measures to…

In addition to exposing students to basic concepts, theories, and ideas, teachers of comparative politics often claim to foster and promote values of tolerance and cultural sensitivity through exposure to the histories, cultures, and societies of cases from around the world. This claim, however, has been largely speculative and unsupported by any…

Spatial abilities are fundamental to human functioning in the physical world. Spatial reasoning allows people to use concepts of shape, features, and relationships in both concrete and abstract ways, to make and use things in the world, to navigate, and to communicate. Surgeons, pilots, architects, engineers, mechanics, builders, farmers, trades…

The objective of this study was to determine if community based health education programs increased knowledge and health behavior in older adults. The study was a pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 111 independent community dwelling older adults. Participants received two disease prevention education presentations: type 2…

The aim of this study was to compare the acquisition of the van Hiele levels of sixth-grade students engaged in instruction using a reform-based curriculum with sixth-grade students engaged in instruction using a traditional curriculum. There were 273 sixth-grade mathematics students, 123 in the control group and 150 in the treatment group,…

Numerous studies have shown that thinking aloud while reading can be an effective instructional technique in helping students improve their reading comprehension. However, most of the studies that examined the effects of think-aloud involve subjects reading individually and carried out in isolation away from the classroom context. Recently,…

This study compared student learning outcomes and student perceptions of and satisfaction with the learning process between two sections of the same class--a web-based section and a traditional face-to-face (f2f) section. Using a quasi-experimental design, students were randomly assigned to the two course sections. Group equivalency was…

This project investigated the effects of technology task autonomy, teacher gender, and student gender on student achievement scores for students disaggregated by IEP and SES in middle school science classrooms. Participants were from the treatment group in a larger quasi-experimental design project that investigated the effects of integrated…