Students enrolled in an introductory, audio-tutorial biology course were randomly assigned to either the control group, which followed the regular program and took pre and posttests designed for this study, or to the experimental group, which followed an identical program with additional exercises specially designed to teach higher cognitive…

This study investigated interactions between student traits and treatments. Engineering and physics majors were enrolled in either a lecture-recitation-laboratory section, or an audio-tutorial section of an introductory physics course. No significant differences were found between the two groups, but an interaction was found between two traits…

High school biology students were randomly assigned to one of two auto-tutorial sections. One section of students received immediate reinforcement and feedback; the other section did not. Using multiple linear regression, it was shown that the immediate feedback section scored significantly higher in cognitive learning. (MLH)

A sample of 228 elementary school children in a large eastern city was administered tasks which tested visual perceptions of solid objects, and photographs and drawings of these objects. Results showed that children in grades one, four, and six demonstrate a tendency to perform more efficiently on observation and comparison tasks employing solid…

Two hundred students in an undergraduate physical geography course were assigned to a group which received either factually oriented quizzes or quizzes which stressed higher level behaviors such as application and analysis. Evaluation of the results indicated that the variation in testing procedures had no discernable effect on student scores in…

Describes a study which investigated the criteria which judges use to assess biology teachers. Chi-square analysis of the answers on a questionnaire sent to judges of the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award program revealed that specific criteria exist which are significant to competent judges. Also, various judges do value specific criteria…

First graders who had been exposed to the Child-Structured Learning in Science curriculum (CSLS) were compared according to their achievement on a cognitive test instrument to two groups who had not had the CSLS treatment. Results revealed that a greater percentage of children in the CSLS treatment group performed on a concrete-operational level,…

High school students in South Australia were administered in group fashion the pendulum and the chemical color change developmental tasks. The major conclusion of this study is the fact that it is possible to translate into group form, administer, and assess rapidly and with considerable reliability Piagetian problem indicators of developmental…

This investigation explored the relationship between scholastic grades in science in junior and senior high school students and ability of students to perform formal operational tasks. The findings indicated that at certain grade levels and in certain subject areas, public school science students who demonstrate formal operational logic tend to…

The locus of control construct referred to in this study describes a distribution of individuals on a continuum according to the degree to which they accept personal responsibility for what happens to them. This study showed that for first grade children the interactions between a student's locus of control and his classroom environment may…

A sample of 43 second grade pupils was divided into groups which performed classificatory tasks with value labels, attribute labels, or a combination of these. Results showed that the value labeling improved the students' classificatory skills and increased the students' ability to generalize classificatory skill on far transfer tests. (MLH)

This study investigated whether the familiarity of an object observed by an individual influences his responses on observation and comparison tasks. Results indicated no significant differences between the number of observations of ordinary objects and the number of observations of novel objects. (MLH)

Reports on a replication study to determine the relative effectiveness of two methods of instruction in teaching classificatory concepts and to determine whether maturity of children was related to level of understanding. (GS)