This article reviews the origins and use of the terms quasi-experiment and natural experiment. It demonstrates how the terms conflate whether variation in the independent variable of interest falls short of random with whether researchers find, rather than intervene to create, that variation. Using the lens of assignment--the process driving…

Every 20 minutes, another child is diagnosed with autism. Are you ready to meet this growing educational challenge? This authoritative guide for practitioners--early interventionists, teachers, school counselors and psychologists--provides practical strategies for addressing the unique needs of children on the autism spectrum and their families.…

Design considerations for speech training systems include the types of information about speech to be used in training, whether acoustic or physiologic; and the use of models of speech production, whether partially perceptual and partially knowledge-based or explicit data-based models. A taxonomy of speech training systems is presented.…

Discusses how operant conditioning has not brought instructional designers any closer to using feedback effectively in computer assisted instruction they design, defines and describes types of feedback, presents guidelines for effective feedback use, and suggests use of templates to bring instructional design to a sophisticated level of…

A "Form Primer," developed for and used in an introductory architectural design course at Princeton University, is explained and illustrated. The concept holds that architecture is made up of a typology of pieces that are composed into a whole. (MSE)

Provides a rough classification of three basic design aspects of audiocassette production in a distance education framework: dramaturgical design; didactic functions or teaching objectives; and reciprocal relations to other media and students' activities. It is concluded that audiocassettes can be very effective and powerful when developed to…

Presents 17 research paradigms students might employ for doctoral dissertations on instructional design, makes suggestions for students evaluating the literature and developing a conceptual framework for research, and summarizes dissertations developed by University of Florida doctoral students, classifying them into three research paradigms which…

Discusses advantages and disadvantages of the lecture method as an instructional form; circumstances where lectures serve a useful purpose; the general lecture model, which includes an introduction, presentation, and summary; and three variations on this general model--interactive, demonstrational, and interactive demonstration lectures. (MBR)

The Experiential Taxonomy is one that teachers who have taken an introductory inservice mini-course can use in the classroom as an effective tool for planning and evaluation of student experiences. It can be used equally effectively in the classroom for planning, amending, implementing, and evaluating each student activity or learning sequence.…

Elementary school children are given cards containing specific criteria for doing one or two tasks: sorting or arranging rocks. Sorting tasks involve children in picking out rocks with particular characteristics, such as color or shape. In the arranging tasks children are asked to arrange rocks according to size or value. (RM)

Proposes a taxonomy which describes interactivity and adaptation outside the context of any particular medium. Designed to facilitate the instructional design and media selection processes, this taxonomy is represented as a cube whose axes represent interactivity and internal and external adaptation levels. Levels of interactivity and adaptation…

Operationalizes the theoretical foundation of Gagne's model as a component in the instructional design process. The description of design techniques includes a sample media analysis, and a sample sequence worksheet. (JEG)

Attempting to define curriculum inquiry, this study examines published reports of curriculum inquiry and classifies the problems studied, the methods used, and the solutions proposed. (MCG)

A typology of the vocational intent of various college courses, or the stated objectives and curricula of courses as they relate to specific occupational fields is proposed that makes distinctions about vocational specificity, selection for employment, and training for employment. (MSE)

Focuses on different kinds of school and classroom organization for teaching reading at the preschool and primary levels. (AEA)