The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program represents a substantial investment by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve the quality of graduate education, and ultimately, to increase the number of graduates better prepared to address the nation's 21st century scientific and technological needs. The…

Revised version of a lecture delivered on November 12, 1969 at the Padagogische Hochschule Niedersachsen, Abt. Vechta, West Germany. (WB)

Although guided-inquiry methods for teaching introductory physics have been individually shown to be more effective at improving conceptual understanding than traditional lecture-style instruction, researchers in physics education have not studied differences among reform-based curricula in much detail. Several researchers have developed…

A review of The Creative Experience" (Grossman), edited by Stanley Rosner and Laurence E. Abt. The Book is essentially a record of conversations with prominent scientists and artists about their life and work. (Author/RY)

The purpose of this book is to provide information about year-round schools (YRS) to those thinking about YRS as an educational option for their communities. The book includes a concise history of YRS and case studies of communities that have ventured to change their school calendars. The authors discuss some of the issues that a change to YRS…

Examines the Abt Associates, Inc. findings on the effectiveness of Project Follow Through and disputes the report's conclusion that so-called "basic skills" approaches to the schooling of poor children are superior to other methods. (Author)

Drawing from reports of rural graduates' insights, the study examined whether graduates of small school districts serving rural areas systematically differ from graduates of more metropolitan school districts. Primary data were collected during a four-year longitudinal study of students attending small schools serving rural areas (Project Rural).…

A collaborative inquiry project illustrates moments when English teacher educators questioned literacy instructional practices that had become normative and acceptable within the schools and communities where their student teachers worked--practices that the teacher educators believed adversely affected the literacy growth of students in the…

Describes in some detail the Curriculum Evaluation Model, "a technique for calculating the cost-effectiveness of alternative curriculum materials by a detailed breakdown and analysis of their components, quality, and cost. Coverage, appropriateness, motivational effectiveness, and cost are the four major categories in terms of which the…

In each of 41 research journals in the physical, life, and social sciences there is a linear relationship between average number of references and paper lengths. Because papers of average lengths in various sciences have the same number of references, this article concludes that citation counts to them can be inter-compared within that accuracy,…

Disputes the claim that narrative writing is of lesser value than expository forms, and argues that narrative holds great potential for use in writing curricula. Describes a summer science institute for minority students in which narrative was utilized. (HB)

The evaluation by Abt Associates, Inc., of the Follow Through program, an extension of Head Start designed to improve primary education for disadvantaged children, created a controversy about the program and its assessment, which is discussed in this article. The authors see serious flaws in the evaluation design and interpretation. (MF)

Abt Associates, the firm responsible for the primary analysis of the Follow Through experiment, summarize the findings. Their clearest finding indicates that local circumstances, attitudes, and activities unmeasured by evaluation have much more to do with the effectiveness of Follow Through models, without exception, than do their theoretical…

Discusses the Abt Study of State and Local Compliance which sought to describe state and local implementation of the provisions of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1965; to understand ways in which local environment affects compliance; and to provide Congress with recommendations for achieving greater adherence to federal intent. (JOW)