There are five words that are critical to an appreciation of what is "typical" in data sets that students encounter across the middle school years. The first three words--mean, median and mode--are nouns that define measures of typicality in data sets. The next two words--categorical and numerical--are adjectives that describe the types…

During their university career, students go through a series of changes regarding their professional and personal development. Students may not be aware that this process is occurring, but universities need to make sure that the learning process is strengthened by taking this process into account in the design of instruction and coursework.…

The development of a 20-item semantic differential assessment instrument for measuring student attitudes toward the subject of chemistry is described (Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory-ASCI). Instrument subscales and survey items pertain to interest and utility, anxiety, intellectual accessibility, emotional satisfaction, and…

This report provides background materials for a survey which is to be conducted for the Unit of Dissemination of the Kentucky Department of Education to determine what type of packaging is preferred by users for materials distributed by the Dissemination Unit, with emphasis on teacher attitudes toward non-print media in relation to print formats.…

At the beginning of an introductory social psychology course, students were asked to rate their professor on a semantic differential scale. The results were compiled and used to generate questions about interpersonal perceptions, stereotypes, data collection, and the characteristics and limitations of social psychological research in general. (AM)

Identifies some of the problems of attitude assessment in science education. Describes the development of the Attitude Toward the Subject Science Scale (ATSSS) and gives an overview of the Ajzen and Fishbein attitude theories. Provides five sample items. (YP)

The primary purpose of this study was to identify and profile attitudes and evaluative semantic differentials evidenced by young people in the six districts of Micronesia. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Eight attitudinal dimensions were measured: support of school and school related values, support of United States policy in…

Groups of teachers and teacher education majors in Australia at various stages of training are surveyed in terms of their attitudes toward teachers and education, changes in these attitudes, and cross-group comparisons of attitudes. (JMF)

Statistical thinking is required for good statistical analysis. Among other things, statistical thinking involves identifying sources of variation. Students in introductory statistics courses seldom recognize that one of the largest sources of variation may come in the collection and recording of the data. This paper presents some simple exercises…

A method used at Bradley University to assess the institution's public image consisted of a series of paired descriptive phrases through which potential students could compare the school with their ideal college in academic factors, location, size, campus, costs, and career placement. (MSE)

The primary purpose of this study was to develop and validate a measure of counselor empathy. A pilot study was conducted with 72 undergraduate students and 12 graduate students in order to develop the Empathic Differential (ED)D. Twenty-one bi-polar objectives were yielded significant through intercorrelation analysis. The validation study…

This paper focuses on the necessity for a holistic, responsive evaluation of the educational process due to education's complex, dynamic, and humanistic nature. Holistic evaluation involves the assessment of all intended goals, interactions, and program results, as opposed to selective evaluation of only a few key variables. Responsive evaluation…

A college class on the family relationship patterns of some American minority groups was structured to foster attitude change as well as acquisition of information. As a teaching tool, a semantic differential was developed and administered before and after the course. In this particular class, many students found their views of Black and Chicano…

Discusses the complicating effects of ambivalence on the validity of science attitude measurement scales. Cites studies indicating that the positive and negative effects about a particular psychological object are not necessarily bipolar. Suggests the use of factor analysis to check dimensionality in instruments. (TW)

Prepared as a tool for those who work with Mexican American migrants, this manual is based upon documents and verbal narrations provided by persons involved in the Texas Migrant Council's Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Project (caseworkers and employers of migrants in Texas and in northern "user" states, Mexican American migrants,…