In this study the researcher investigated the feasibility of constructing a valid paper-and-pencil measure of problem solving ability. (Rationale and design of the study are discussed in Part 1.) The principal feasibility criterion, correlation of at least .71 with scores on taped and coded individual "thinking aloud" problem-solving…

This study examined the relative intellectual impacts of two- and four-year college educational programs by focusing on changes in reading comprehension, mathematics, and critical thinking skills in 204 freshmen students who attended either a public two-year community college near a large metropolitan area or a public four-year, urban research…

This report sought to test the hypothesis that living on campus fosters cognitive growth by estimating the relative freshman-year gains in reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, and critical thinking of resident and commuter students at an urban university. Data were collected from 210 college freshmen students at a large research…

The potential utility of a college admissions test as a measure of the cognitive learning outcomes of general education is investigated. A residual form of the ACT Assessment was administered to a stratified random sample of 112 seniors at Tennessee Technological University. (Author/MLW)

An updated version of Taba's 1966 "Social Studies Inference Test" and "Application of Principles Test" for elementary students is studied. The original tests measured students' abilities to generalize and draw inferences from short paragraphs containing data relevant to social studies. The "Social Studies Inference…

Piaget's model of children's conceptual learning and development was compared with Klausmeier's Conceptual Learning and Development (CLD) model in a longitudinal study. The CLD model suggests four successive levels of concept learning: (1) concrete--recognizing an object which has been encountered previously; (2) identity--recognizing a known…