The important contribution of economic analysis in the legal classroom is not as a set of rules to solve legal problems, but as a way to provide a different perspective on underlying social arrangements with which the law is concerned. (MSE)

A structured Delphi procedure was used to secure the informed judgments of three types of adult participants (n=170) on appropriate standards for the North Carolina High School Competency Tests in Reading and Mathematics. The feasibility of the method and the amount of agreement between groups are discussed. (Author/PN)

Depending on age and the demands of the task, people may use different processing strategies in object categorization. Three-year-olds used a wholistic approach with strong effects of object typicality on three categorization tasks. Older children and adults showed differential effects of typicality, suggesting various strategies including…

A Berkeley course's student project is the design and construction of a small-scale city, structured on a given plan, with the students themselves as clients. The focus is on balancing communal amenity against personal whim and gain. The project's purposes, process, and eventual discontinuance are discussed. (MSE)

A course to introduce medical students to formal models of medical diagnostic reasoning at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is described. The students are encouraged to integrate facts and concepts from the basic sciences into strategies of diagnostic reasoning. (MLW)

Examined 5- to 12-year-olds' judgment regarding the behavior of balance scales and other levers whose arms varied in a causal or a noncausal variable. Results indicated age-related increases in correct judgments about the influence of physical features of objects at an earlier age than about spatial relations between objects. (MOK)

Suggests that peers have come to be key factors in the configuration of the exercise of science and are endowed with enormous political power. (Contains 25 references.) (DDR)

Advocates an inquiry perspective in high school economics rather than concentrating on economic theory. Describes the assumptions for such an approach and discusses ways to apply them to problematic cases. Benefits of this approach would stimulate interest in economics and increase students' ability to analyze problematic situations. (GG)

In 5 experiments, assessments were made of subjects' understandings of the dynamics of wheels. The subjects--111 undergraduates and 19 high school physics teachers--made highly erroneous dynamical judgments about this commonplace event, both in explicit problem-solving contexts and when viewing ongoing events. Findings are related to accounts of…

Investigated the role of disconfirming behavioral information and the limits on social class schema effects. Using a Bayesian model of social perception, it was found that unambiguous, relevant stimulus information influenced judgments. Although social class information did not affect relevant stimulus information, it did sway judgments in…

Investigated preschool, second, and fifth grade children's definitions of, moral standards for, and internal evaluative reactions to lies and truthful statements. Older children correctly identified almost all statements, whereas preschoolers correctly identified about 70 percent. Lies were rated as worse than truthful statements by all age…

Presents a page from a booklet developed as part of a curriculum development project. Discusses some ideas for analysis of graphics arts. Examines maps, cartoons, illustrations, and photography. Warns against accepting that which is represented as the whole truth. Describes the imagery and cultural influences to be analyzed in maps and cartoons in…

An open-ended data-analysis activity, prompted by a Royal Mail advertisement, explores the claim that the real cost of first class postage has fallen below the inflation rate. The activity provides realistic exercises in both arithmetic and statistical indices, and in logical interpretation of, and deduction from, the data. (JJK)