Evaluated effectiveness of six instructional programs (each dealing with a different aspect of a spatial task related to diagrams of three-dimensional structures) with Bahraini students (ages 13- to 17-years-old). All brought about a significant degree of learning over all age groups. Implications of these and other findings are discussed.…

Freshmen and sophomore science education students (N=32) were observed to determine their performance (attentive responses) on four cognitive variables. One result found is that 44 percent of students used the fastest mode of short stimulation/short response time, but had the lowest mean score on the four cognitive variables. (JN)

This study found no statistically significant relationship between engineering technology students' (N=64) performances in classroom instruction and supervised industrial work experiences or between their performances during the different periods of supervised industrial work-experience. These and other results are discussed. Background…

Discusses Walberg's psychological theory of educational productivity, which is based on the Cobb-Douglas economic production function. The empirical finding that the educational production function is approximately homogeneous of degree one in the productivity factors, in accordance with theory, is noted, and it is shown how this agreement could…

A number of alternative frameworks used by 84 students (ages 12-16) in interpreting phenomena concerned with fluid pressure were identified during interviews with these students. Methodology employed, tasks used to obtain data, an analysis of the results, and implications for physics teaching are included. (JN)

An increase in the cognitive restructuring aspect of field-independence was found to be associated with an increase in formal operational thought in 11- to 12-year-olds who were given materials designed to achieve this result. Materials used (including computer programs) are described in an appendix. (JN)

Compared performance in A-level science examinations of students who took an integrated science course (SCISP) with students who studied the separate subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology to 0-level standard. Results show no significant differences between the performance of the two groups. (JN)

Studied a limited number of students exposed to teaching materials and strategies (developed from a cognitive perspective on learning), such that their impact would be monitored to determine how the learners constructed new knowledge frameworks as teaching proceeded. Includes background information, comparisons of teacher's intentions and…

Investigated effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic student-student interactions on affective processes (objectivity, open-mindedness, curiosity, and others) and attitudes toward science. Results show that students (N=960) with teachers trained in cooperative interaction patterns achieve higher affective scores. (Author/DH)

Ability to distinguish between causal (cause-effect) and teleological (means-ends) explanations was measured in 1905 twelfth-grade biology students and found to be dependent on student knowledge. Although the inability to make these distinctions contributes to misconceptions in biology, appropriate instruction can easily remedy the problem. Sample…

Determined the factor structure of tasks which require students to visualize how diagrams should be drawn to represent effects of rotating three-dimensional structures about the three Cartesian axes. Results obtained from 149 English and 231 Singapore students show that visualization about X-, Y-, and Z-axes are factorially distinct. (DH)

Assessed Venezuelan college freshmen's (N=709) level of formal or concrete operations and its correlation with performance in various courses. Findings show 84 percent were concrete; achievement in chemistry had the highest correlation with formal operations, and decreasing correlations occurred with mathematics, biology, biology lab,…

Presents results from a Curriculum Research for Agricultural Education survey to 885 staff members on such staff development activities as conferences, academic study, and in-house provisions. Analysis of quantity, event type, activity type, and staff level indicates a need for review of staff development in agricultural education. (DH)

Good problem solvers and poor problem solvers in advanced physics (N=8) were significantly different in their ability in translating, planning, and physical reasoning, as well as in problem solving time; no differences in reliance on algebraic solutions and checking problems were noted. Implications for physics teaching are discussed. (DH)

Surveyed 170 English schools (for 13- to 16-year-olds) to determine the extent to which industrially relevent materials were adopted in science classes and attitudes of science teachers toward these materials in science syllabi. Indicates that although teachers believe the industrial materials should be emphasized, traditional science courses…