This study investigated the dynamics of complex interactions within inquiry-based (IB) discussions by visualizing patterns using social network analysis. Researchers explored network measures when learners participated in inquiry-based discussions with Practical Inquiry Model (PIM) and non-PIM questions while playing the weekly moderator's role.…

In a classroom setting, as distinct from other settings, a teacher asks questions in order to evaluate the correctness of the reply, not to seek information. (JD)

Four students (ages 10-14) with moderate mental retardation learned chained tasks with constant time delay and with the system of least prompts. Both strategies produced criterion-level performance; however, constant time delay was more efficient than least prompts in terms of number of sessions, percent of errors, and direct instructional time to…

The study investigated the effectiveness of using visual cues to highlight the seams of baseballs, to improve the hitting of curveballs by five undergraduate varsity baseball team candidates. Results indicated that subjects hit a greater percentage of marked than unmarked balls. (Author/DB)

Thirty learning-disabled and 30 nonhandicapped intermediate grade children were assessed on memory performance for stimulus words, which were presented with congruent and noncongruent rhyming words and semantically congruent and noncongruent sentence frames. Both groups performed significantly better on words encoded using deep level congruent…

Two methods of prompting were compared for their relative effectiveness in teaching a group of autistic students, age 12-20, to discriminate line drawings used in picture communication books. Students required fewer trials to criterion and made significantly fewer errors in the delayed-prompting technique compared to the fading-of-prompts design.…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a Social Story [TM] intervention in teaching a young child with hyperlexia to appropriately obtain the attention of his peers. The Social Story intervention consisted of verbal and visual cues incorporated into an age-appropriate storybook format. Attempting to obtain the attention of a…

Mentally retarded adults (N=180) were asked 30 yes/no questions, to determine if their acquiescence is explained by indiscriminant yea-saying in response to the yes/no question format or due to subjects submitting to the influence of the interviewer. After selected questions, the interviewer either nodded his head "yes" or shook his head…

Twenty learning-disabled students (grades 5 and 6) who received procedural facilitation for narrative composition, including story grammar cue cards and a metacognitive check-off procedure, produced better quality stories than a control group of 10 students. Including verbal reminders to develop characters did not affect story quality. (Author/JDD)

Three mentally handicapped students (aged 13, 36, and 40) with maladaptive speech received training to answer questions with verbal labels. The results of their cues-pause-point training showed that the students replaced their maladaptive speech with correct labels (answers) to questions in the training setting and three generalization settings.…

Sighted (n=37), partially sighted (n=20), and blind (n=17) participants answered questions about their expression and interpretation of verbal and nonverbal cues during telephone conversations, face-to-face encounters, and dating. The groups used an equal number of cues. Results have implications for developing specific communication skills of…

Two time-delay conditions for teaching complex visual discriminations to 14 normal preschoolers, 12 with mild mental retardation, and 11 with moderate mental retardation were compared. Results indicated that for all populations and stimuli, time delay of multiple dynamic distinctive-feature prompts produced learning, while time delay of the single…

Presents findings of a study of scientists on the Wason four-card selection task, finding little understanding of the effect of disconfirmatory data in assessing conditionals. Found performance influenced by problem content. Explains performance as memory-cueing plus reasoning-by-analogy. (JM)

The study compared the task demonstration model and the standard prompting hierarchy in training 8 persons (ages 16-21) with moderate or severe mental retardation on a discrimination task. The task demonstration model was found to be superior during both training and generalization phases. (DB)

This study compared use of trainer demonstrations and use of visual cues across varying difficulties of task, by 20 mentally retarded secondary-aged students. Results found that photographs and line drawings were more effective with mildly/moderately retarded students than demonstrations when working with complex tasks. No differences were found…