A 3-year statewide English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) video learning mini-research project focused on three main areas of televised and video-based instruction in Texas: literacy, adult general education, and ESL. The project described in this paper is a subset of the statewide study and concentrates on the impact of video-based learning when used…

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative followup survey of a sample of programs listed in the 1986 "Directory of Evaluation Training Programs." Four programs listed in the directory are no longer considered evaluation training, and five, originally similar, are still going strong. A sampling strategy was used to compare the discontinued…

Program design can aid problem-solving or decision-making tasks faced by evaluators. It can be used to facilitate evaluation planning through the definition of program boundaries and the generation and focusing of evaluation questions. Further, it can provide evaluation information about theoretical, historical, and political contexts of a…

Techniques learned in the Goethe-Institut German classroom in Germany, are described and recommended for American use, particularly the immersion approach and emphasis on variety in instructional activities. Other features are also discussed, including: the role of a teacher's willingness to provide multi-sensory activities, creative use of the…

This paper discusses the comparative philosophical tenets and practices of Germany's Waldorf and state schools with regard to the creativity thinking ability of students. Waldorf schools, developed some 70 years ago, are based on the philosophy of creative idealism known as anthroposophy. A study of 1165 third through sixth grade children from…

Meta-analysis is a collection of systematic techniques for resolving apparent contradictions in research findings. Meta-analysts translate results from different studies to a common metric and statistically explore the relations between study characteristics and findings. Since G. Glass first used the term "meta-analysis" in 1976, it has…

The purpose of this study is to help define the precise nature and limits of the tolerable range in which a researcher may be relatively confident about the statistical validity of his or her research findings, focusing specifically on the statistical validity of results when violating the assumptions associated with the one-way, fixed-effects…

A study evaluated preparatory methods of developing competence to become certified as an Iowa Fire Fighter I. Hypotheses were that no significant differences in written examination scores would be found when comparing structured learning with self-study preparation or when comparing candidate gender; a significant difference would be found in…

This article presents a novel approach for explaining algorithms that aims to overcome various pedagogical limitations of the current visualization systems. The main idea is that at any given time, a learner is able to focus on a single problem. This problem can be explained, studied, understood, and tested, before the learner moves on to study…

A survey of 27 principals, 45 kindergarten teachers, 86 primary teachers, and 57 preservice teachers was designed to determine whether teachers instruct kindergarten children and elementary school students differently. Subjects were asked about benefits of free exploration of materials, child-selected activities, use of props in play, social…

This study identifies philosophical and instructional values implicit in the educational thought of Maria Montessori and compares those values with Shapiro's (1986, 1987) set of humanistic value principles. Shapiro's 16 value principles, which are derived from an analysis of 100 works of 89 well-known writers who have been publicly associated with…

The purpose of this study was to compare the knowledge about art acquired by students who went on site visits with that of students who experienced only the lecture method of teaching. A study was conducted at Boricua College (New York) with two groups of 25 students each, one participating as a control and one as an experimental group. The…

The purpose of the present study was to determine how two different data collection techniques would affect the Q-factors derived from several factor analytic procedures. Faculty members (N=146) from seven middle schools responded to 61 items taken from an instrument designed to measure aspects of an idealized middle school culture; the instrument…

Increasingly over the past decade there have appeared in the press bar graphs comparing the performance of U.S. students with their counterparts in other countries. Usually these graphs have been accompanied by dire warnings and pointing fingers. The main source of the data on international comparisons has been the International Association for…

Outcomes, processes, and emerging questions associated with using matrix structures as both a teaching strategy used by the instructor and a cognitive learning strategy used by cooperative groups of students were studied. In analyzing these concept learning strategies, an effort was made to triangulate sources of data and take into account aspects…