According to self-efficacy theorists, people's judgments of what they can accomplish are influential arbiters in human agency and, as such, powerful determinants of their behavior. In large part, this is because these self-efficacy beliefs are said to act as mediators between other acknowledged influences on behavior, such as skill, ability,…

College-level assessment efforts in New Jersey are described. For more than a dozen years, students in public colleges and universities in New Jersey have been assessed using a common statewide instrument, the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test. This test assesses reading, writing, and mathematics skills of entering college students as…

This study sought to develop a valid set of scales in the cognitive and affective domains for measuring the quality of life of university students. In addition the study attempted to illustrate the usefulness of Thomas Piazza's procedures for constructing valid scales in educational research. Piazza's method involves a multi-step construction of…

To what extent can photographic readability be formalized for use as a criterion in the evaluation of instructional materials? The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test a readability index for evaluating photographic illustrations in instructional materials. The index uses an interdisciplinary battery of methods adapted from the…

The purpose of this paper is to provide information to help decide whether Feuerstein's "Instrumental Enrichment" (FIE) technique (or some variation of it) might be useful in teaching leadership-relevant thinking skills to prospective Army leaders. This paper examines some 35 reports of FIE research conducted in Israel, Venezuela,…

This examiner's manual accompanies the Learning Style Profile (LSP), which measures cognitive skills as well as affective and environmental preferences. Charles Letteri's General Operations Model was accepted as the prototype for relating learning styles to cognitive information processing. The LSP was developed from 1983 to 1986; several versions…

This study investigated the effects on the performance of different age group students of: (1) method of task presentation; (2) format of test questionnaire; and (3) the numerical content of the tasks. The sample consisted of 556 students from grades 7, 9 and 12. The tasks, used for assessing reasoning skills, were taken from the Video-Taped Group…

In an effort to contribute information for science teachers and curriculum developers in Maine, this study generated base line data on 4th, 8th, and 11th grade students' knowledge of marine science and natural resources principles in relation to the Gulf of Maine. Five concept maps representing 15 major content principles were developed. Two…

A new framework for designing qualitative studies is described to optimize the emergence, representation and presentation of insights. The framework, called Reflection Methodology, is presented as a "Conversational Paradigm" that includes four components--interviewer (researcher as participant); child, task situation, and observing…

The study of consciousness requires a language for exact and precise communication. This research project investigated how workers from different cultural contexts value information that is relevant to their job performance. Thirty-five randomly selected mechanics, from Sweden, England, West Germany, Italy, and the United States, were selected as…

Information about student achievement outcomes is presented, and tests for each outcome area are described. The tests are categorized according to knowledge objectives, skill objectives, and intellectual disposition. Knowledge objectives include comprehension of facts and principles within a particular discipline (specialized knowledge) or a broad…

Evaluation of Project Learning Tree (PLT) involved a survey of PLT's utilization in British Columbia and the field experiment. The survey included participant observers' reports on PLT teacher training workshops, a mail survey of workshop participants, and telephone interviews with selected respondents. Two treatment conditions were effected at…

A pilot study on the development and administration of a test using a spatial reasoning problem, the 15-puzzle, is described. The test utilizes on-line capabilities of a real-time computer to record an examinee's progress on each problem through a sequence of problem-solving "moves", and to collect additional on-line data that might be…

TECHNIQUES FOR BUILDING AN ADEQUATE PROFILE TO DESCRIBE TEACHER REQUIREMENTS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS NEEDED FOR SATISFACTORY HOMEMAKING INSTRUCTION WERE STUDIED. WHEN THE PARTICULAR REQUIREMENTS OF A TEACHING POSITION WERE CONSIDERED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TEACHER CANDIDATE, EXPECTATIONS WERE…

The first topic of the conference was creativity. Papers delivered were Knowledge and Creativity by Theodore C. Denise and Hobert W. Burns; Potentiality for Creativity and Its Measurement, by J. P. Guilford; and Some Methodological Issues in the Study of Creativity by Robert L. Thorndike. In the second session, a paper on comparability of scores…