In the bottom-up model of the reading process, the reader's first task is to decode the symbols into sound representations. By contrast, the top-down model assumes that the reader begins by guessing about the meaning of some unit of print. Each model suggests different instructional practices. (Author/SJL)

Five studies on the advantages and disadvantages of small groups in teaching in higher education are discussed. These include works by M. L. Johnson Abercrombie; Barbara Cockburn and Alex Ross; M. L. J. Abercrombie and P. M. Terry; and Jean Rudduck. (JMF)

Examines a variety of teaching practices in several types of specialty schools that have an instructional emphasis and investigates the attitudes of teachers in those schools. A total of 117 teachers from grades K-6 in eight elementary schools participated in this study. (MP)

After analyzing Vincent Lanier's five characteristic roles of art education, the article briefly explains the pedagogy of Paulo Freire, based on human praxis, and applies it to the existing "oppresive" art education system. The article reduces Lanier's roles to resemble a single Freirean model. (SB)

Two studies utilized different conditions under which kindergarten children encountered the same narrative material and were tested for recall at 30 seconds and one week after the encounters. Children who enacted the story while hearing it significantly recalled more narrative content and implicit and explicit information. (DS)

This paper outlines two broad paradigms of action research referring to early education programs: (1) summative evaluation through quantitative group comparisons of intelligence and achievement, and (2) formative evaluation through process-oriented observational methods with an emphasis on qualitative information. (CM)

After briefly describing the Community Experiences for Career Education project, this paper discusses 11 evaluation strategies used with the project, assesses the strengths and limitations of each, shows some relationships among them, discusses ways of communicating evaluation findings, and suggests selection criteria to others planning multiple…

Three Web search engines--Alta Vista, Excite, and Lycos--were compared and evaluated in terms of their search capabilities and retrieval performances using sample queries drawn from real reference questions. Findings indicated Alta Vista outperformed Excite and Lycos in both search facilities and retrieval performance, although Lycos had the…

Examined economic concept learning and retention in 121 first and second graders who were randomly assigned (stratified by grade) to 1 of 4 instruction conditions: cooperative learning, mastery learning, cooperative-mastery learning, or control treatment. Found on posttest and delayed posttest that cooperative-mastery method was superior to other…

Explores the evaluation of image and multimedia information-retrieval systems, particularly the effectiveness of several shape measures for content-based retrieval of similar images. Shape feature measures, or vectors, are computed automatically and can either be used for retrieval or stored in the database for future queries. (57 references)…

Investigated the effects of educational intervention upon perceptions of sexual harassment. Results from 96 subjects reveal that educational intervention impacted perception of sexual harassment, with literature interventions showing superiority over video. Gender differences in sensitivity to sexual harassment in favor of females prior to…

Focuses on major themes in Vygotsky's theory of learning and development; compares the theoretical and practical implications of these major principles with those of Montessori. Considers both Vygotsky's and Montessori's views on the mechanisms of child development and methods of study; the relationship of teaching, learning, and development;…

Describes a reactive focus on form task that was part of a university English-as-a-Foreign-Language oral presentation course. Students in the study were encouraged to focus on their oral output by taping and transcribing a rehearsal of their presentation. Describes the effect of this treatment by comparing the language of the rehearsal transcript…

Discussion of user interfaces to information retrieval systems focuses on interfaces that incorporate thesauri as part of their searching and browsing facilities. Discusses research literature related to information searching behavior, information retrieval interface evaluation, search term selection, and query expansion; and compares thesaurus…

Discussion of the evaluation of educational software highlights two evaluation methods: (1) the York Educational Software Evaluation Scales (YESES), a criterion-based evaluation, and (2) a field-testing approach developed at York University. Guidelines for the field-testing approach include an emphasis on the observation of students. (22…