This instructional guide, one of a series developed by the Technical Education Advancement Modules (TEAM) project, is a 16-hour introduction to plant floor operations. The guide is designed to develop the following competencies: (1) understanding the characteristics and components of personal computer (PC) networks; (2) computer networking…

In a study to evaluate an approach for improving the critical thinking skills of middle school science students, 60 students were given the assignment of completing three guided laboratory activities and writing a report for each. In writing their reports, students were expected to identify the manipulated variable, identify the responding…

Concludes that the nature of the writing tasks assigned to students will emphasize some aspects of the curriculum and de-emphasize others. (NKA)

This second volume of "Proving and Improving" collects essays from the First-Year Assessment Listserv, which is hosted by the Policy Center on the First Year of College and the National Resource Center. Like the first volume, this one brings together the nation's leading experts and practitioners of assessment in the first college year.…

A study in college-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction investigated (1) whether or not there is any relationship between the strategic use of explicit grammar knowledge, including metalinguistic concepts, in an attempt to recognize error, and the actual correction of error and success in academic ESL; (2) whether or not certain…

How people evaluate primary and secondary sources when considering historical questions was studied by asking eight historians and eight high school seniors to think aloud while reviewing written and pictorial documents about the Battle of Lexington. Differences between the groups are discussed concerning cognitive processes and beliefs about…

Which pedagogical processes and practices that target the recognition, value and sharing of world views in teaching and learning can be identified as strategies for learning to live together in an Australian multicultural classroom? The question is addressed by this paper, which presents two discrete but complementary pedagogical models that…

The study described here attempted to shed light on decision-making during first language (English) and second language (French) writing processes of French immersion program graduates. It also replicated part of a previous study on the role of first language (L1) writing skills and second language (L2) competence when writing in L2. A think-aloud…

An item classification scheme developed by A. M. Gallagher (1990) was refined, resulting in a more accurate prediction of sex differences in the mathematical sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Differential Item Functioning (DIF) procedures for examinees scoring over 650 indicated that the majority of items favoring males required the…

Metacognitive activities were studied through the verbalizations of students during a learning process, to study the differences in the performance of good and poor students. The moment of verbalization, either at prompting marks or without prompts, and the instruction in verbalization, either directed or non-directed, were variables. Thirty-two…

Focusing on the effects of three interventions on students' reading and writing of persuasive discourse, a study investigated (1) whether the writing of persuasive discourse can be improved by instruction, and (2) the effect of reading on writing and of writing on reading within the persuasive mode. Subjects, 100 Canadian sixth graders stratified…

A method for understanding and controlling the multiple facets of an oral examination (OE) or other judge-intermediated examination is presented and illustrated. This study focused on determining the extent to which the facets model (FM) analysis constructs meaningful variables for each facet of an OE involving protocols, examiners, and…

This study is the fifth in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This part of the study examines the ways in which college students interpret and negotiate an assignment that calls for reading to write. Subjects, 17…

Describes a two-year study of one college student's efforts to produce appropriate content area writing in different disciplines. Using observation, interviews, composing-aloud protocols, and text analysis, evaluates the student's performance according to the Gricean rubric of conversation. Concludes that success was affected by unarticulated…

A study compared the writing strategies used by an adolescent in two essays, one in Danish (native language) and one in English (second language), assigned as homework. Analysis of think-aloud protocols focused on four behaviors: commenting; reading aloud; writing; and verbatim verbalizations of text before writing. Analysis found very similar…