Cognitive and affective data for about 200 college students taught by a self-paced testing method were compared with data for students taught by the traditional lecture method. Results corroborate contemporary experimental evidence concerning the determinants of achievement and indicate some advantages of the self-paced method. (Author/RD)

The development of the associative structure of physics concepts as a result of the content presented to the learner and the relationship between associative structure and academic achievement was investigated using a treatment and a control group. Assessment of associative structure may allow insight into a learner's progress which complements…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between nonverbal behavior and the racial composition of a teacher-student dyad. Both White and Black teachers behaved nonverbally more positively to a student of their own race than to a student of the other race, even though student performance was controlled. (Author/RD)

Children were assessed at the beginning and end of a school year on their perception of opportunities for self-management of their instruction and perception of academic locus of control. Perceptions of opportunity for self-management of instruction were causally prior to perceptions of academic locus of control. (Author/RD)

Effects of the trend to prefer progressive over traditional goals of education were investigated in Israeli teachers. Attitudes toward educational goals; expectations of achieving goals; perceived knowledge about strategies for achieving goals; personality traits and teaching behaviors were studied. Pseudoprogressivism was reflected in the…

Two approaches to apportioning variance in post-test achievement scores were compared. Comparisons were also made among different criterion measures in exploring process-product correlations. The same process variables tended to correlate with all three product measures. Relationships among student characteristics, process variables, and student…

A theory of motivation based upon attributions of causality for success and failure is offered. Three central causal dimensions are identified: stability, locus, and control; these dimensions, respectively, are linked with expectancy change, esteem-related emotions, and interpersonal judgments. A theory of motivation with implications for…

Mnemonic value of spellings in a paired-associate sound learning task was examined in first and second graders. Learning was fastest when correct spellings were seen or imagined. The preferred interpretation was that spellings are effective because they provide readers with orthographic images for symbolizing and storing sounds in memory.…

This research evaluated the effects of a design modification in an open-plan high school. The addition of several variable height partitions throughout the school reduced classroom interruptions and increased content questions. Hypotheses about specific design mechanisms contributing to environment-behavior congruence in open plan schools were…

College students' expectations for subsequent performance were manipulated by false evaluative feedback from instructors. Subjects then listened to an audiotaped lecture, and took an exam on the lecture. Subjects rated the instructor who gave the lecture. The evaluative feedback manipulation had a significant effect on subjects' performance and…

Hoyt recommends the use of norm groups, to adjust student ratings of instruction. Prior methods of generating norm groups relied upon the use of volunteer subjects. Results of the present study indicate that volunteer teachers' student ratings were superior to nonvolunteer teachers' ratings. (Author/RD)

A learning strategy system and a set of training procedures to facilitate the communication of this system to college-age students were developed. Students receiving this training exhibited significantly greater positive precourse-postcourse changes on comprehension/retention and self-report measures than did students in the control groups.…

Ten models are proposed for predicting a student's final grade placement in a computer-assisted instruction curriculum from the time the student spends taking lessons. Two of the simplest models, using only the most recent point and parameters estimated for the whole group, are best at prediction. (Author/RD)

College students attributed their own performance and the performance of the average student to ability, test difficulty, preparation, and luck. Successful students perceived internal factors and unsuccessful students perceived external factors as more important causes of their own performance. Students' anxiety and their ratings of the course and…

This study investigated age trends in children's explanations of their own academic successes and failures. Ability attributions for success and failure in reading were more effectively predicted by reading attainment in older than in younger children. Perception of own attainment was more accurate in older children. Sex differences were also…