Intuitive conceptions based on cognitive biases (teleology, anthropomorphism, and essentialism) often prove helpful in everyday life while simultaneously being problematic in scientific contexts. Nonetheless, students often have intuitive conceptions of scientific topics such as evolution. As potential approaches to enable students to…

We provide evidence of validity for a newly developed diagnostic competence model of operation sense, by both (a) describing the theoretically substantiated development of the competence model in close association with its use within a large-scale formative assessment and (b) providing empirical evidence for the theoretically described cognitive…

This study provides preliminary evidence for reliability and validity of the Hawaii Early Learning Profile Strands 0-3 (HELP Strands 0-3), an assessment instrument for young children. First, the degree of interobserver agreement for a sample of representative HELP items was examined; results indicated that HELP scoring was dependable and…

Difficulties suppressing previously encountered but currently irrelevant information from working memory characterize less skilled comprehenders in studies in which they are matched to skilled comprehenders on word decoding and nonverbal IQ. These "extreme" group designs are associated with several methodological issues. When sample size…

Creativity has been conceptualized as either cognitive or affective, and an analysis of research has indicated that these two approaches are incompatible. In this study, a rapprochement was attempted between two theoretical approaches using procedures recommended by Cronbach and Meehl (1955). First, a construct of creativity was formulated, then…

Thirteen graduate students were asked to indicate for each of 24 multiple-choice items whether the item tested "recall of specific information," a "higher order skill," or "don't know." The students were also asked to state their general basis for judging the items. The 24 items had been previously classified according to Bloom's cognitive-skills…

The 1973 statewide (Maryland) educational accountability plan, for which this report was compiled, called for the development and establishment of statewide and local goals in reading, writing, and mathematics; a comprehensive and uniform statewide testing program; procedures for collecting data on student, home, community, and school…

Animation continues to be used extensively in learning environments; however, research regarding its effectiveness in facilitating different kinds of learning objectives remains inconclusive. Systematically designed content, four individual criterion measures assessing different kinds of learning outcomes, and a variety of animation and…

This study investigated the use of word-visuals to aid university students' recall by examining relationships that exist among levels of learners' recall resulting from different presentation modes; between levels of field-dependent and field-independent learners' recall; and between levels of field-dependent and field-independent learners' recall…

The cognitive components standard setting method, recently introduced by D. McGinty and J. Neel (1996), asks judges to specify minimum levels of performance not for the test items, but for smaller portions of items, the component skills and concepts required to answer each item correctly. Items are decomposed into these components before judges…

Describes a study of undergraduate students at Pennsylvania State University that was conducted to assess the impact of instructional color coding on visually and verbally oriented tests and on field dependence independence. Use of the GEFT (Group Embedded Figures Test) is discussed, and differences in cognitive processes are considered. (11…

Reviews study of undergraduates which evaluated the effects that variations in depth of information processing have on students' memory systems in terms of their ability to acquire and retrieve information related to different types of instructional objectives. The effect of visual versus verbal testing of visualized instruction is also examined.…

A theoretical model describes the components of academic studying focusing on antecedents as well as the consequences of studying. This study uses correlational means to explore the relationship among student characteristics, study activities, and outcomes for 42 education majors. Study activities were assessed with a self-report questionnaire.…

A study sought to determine if there were significant relationships among preservice teachers' learning style, attitude toward reading, composite score on the American College Test (ACT), declared major, high school grade point average, vocabulary score, and reading comprehension score in predicting performance in a basic skills course in reading…