This report describes the evaluation plan for the 1973-74 small-scale field test of the Comprehension element of the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development and presents results for the eight field test objectives investigated. These objectives, the first three grouped under the rubric product usability and the next five grouped under…

A study was conducted to determine whether programmed instruction or traditional instruction in chemistry was more effective in terms of student preference, student achievement, achievement of students with low reading levels, and achievement of students with high reading levels. Two non-random groups of students with equivalent learning ability…

Preliminary data were gathered at the University of Iowa about learning styles and instructional preferences of two groups of family practice physicians: those who attended and those who did not attend a multidisciplinary university-sponsored refresher course. Implications for continuing medical education are discussed. (LBH)

A description of a study which tried to establish the sequence of language development in a language other than English (Farsi) and to measure the syntactic complexity of the first language against that of the second. Results indicate a direction toward the construction of better course materials and tests. (AMH)

Proposes a model of target- and native-language proverb comparison which can be used to assist proverb analysis in the language curriculum, using examples from Mandinka, a West African language. (Author/CB)

Ways in which pronunciation of English as a second language can be taught through listening are presented, involving such activities as: identification tasks; minimal pair sentence tasks; inference, word counting, and dictation tasks; and stress and intonation tasks. (CB)

Describes a study which compared the instructional effectiveness of a team-based, peer-review approach to teaching programing skills to secondary school students, with that of a traditional approach. The discussion covers students' attitudes and programing skills development resulting from the implementation of the experimental approach. (Nine…

Suggests teaching Paul Zindel's HARRY AND HORTENSE AT HORMONE HIGH in conjunction with Charles Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS to ninth graders and Homer's ODYSSEY, and teaching HARRY AND HORTENSE in conjunction with CATCHER IN THE RYE to seniors. Provides discussion questions for HARRY AND HORTENSE. (MM)

Reports the design, methodology, and results of a research project which examined the effectiveness of bibliographic displays produced by online catalogs. A means of testing displays against several hundred thousand records at a reasonable cost and using that to test several display possibilities is described. (CLB)

Discusses similarities and differences in the use of puppets and computers as teaching tools in the classroom. Teachers' resistance to puppets is discussed, and four new puppet programs are described. (LRW)

In this paper a Bayesian procedure is developed for the simultaneous estimation of the reading ability and difficulty parameters which are assumed to be factors in reading errors by the multiplicative Poisson Model. According to several criteria, the Bayesian estimates are better than comparable maximum likelihood estimates. (Author/JAZ)

Focuses on the curriculum, methods, and intellectual orientations of postgraduate training for adult educators found within British and American universities. It argues that we should regard the methods, curricula, modes of evaluation, and intellectual terrain of postgraduate adult education as sociocultural products. (CT)

Achievement and attitudinal effects of three mathematics instruction methods directed in varying degrees toward accommodating diversity in student performance levels were compared in two randomized field experiments with third- through sixth-grade classes. Treatments included Team Assisted Individualization, Ability Group Active Teaching, the…

Introduces two data distortion methods (Frequency-Imposed Distortion, Frequency-Imposed Probability Distortion) and uses a Monte Carlo study to compare their performance with that of other distortion methods (Point Distortion, Probability Distortion). Indications that data generated by these two methods produce accurate statistics and protect…

Reports a study in which the effects of the changeover of a French course in a London comprehensive lower school from a structural to a unit-credit course were observed and evaluated. A pre-test post-test model composed of 10 measures was used to measure the effects of the change. (SED)