Reports on a study that investigated the span of letter recognition (the region of text from which letter information is used during a fixation) for good and poor fifth-grade readers during a reading task. (HOD)

Describes the results of a survey of rehabilitation centers to determine evaluation methods for possible alexia (the loss of ability to read that results from a brain injury) and presents some suggestions for rehabilitative testing and teaching materials. (HOD)

Investigated the relationship between teachers' (N=35) ability to understand science processes and to control variables and students' achievement in science content and processes. Results indicate that teacher ability to control variables is a more valuable characteristic than the understanding of science processes for student achievement.…

Maintains that to teach students to write like historians, teachers must begin by asking how historians write, and then teach students to duplicate that method. (EL)

The state of Connecticut has introduced a fourth-grade mastery test that assesses thinking skills. The test was developed cooperatively by the state's Department of Education, a testing corporation, and several cognitive psychologists; several alternative models of thinking were synthesized to produce a theoretical foundation for the test. (MCG)

Presents an interview with an intelligence expert and author who proposes that the scope of intelligence testing be broadened according to his new taxonomy of intelligence, and that schools use intelligence tests to diagnose individual students' strengths and weaknesses. (MCG)

Outlines a teaching strategy in which students use graphic organizers plus options guides to increase their success on higher-level thinking tasks. (DF)

Three studies on the development of number concepts (counting, addition, subtraction, and place value) in seven- to nine-year-olds considered low attainers in mathematics were conducted. The search for a descriptive framework, the development of a diagnostic assessment instrument, and a longitudinal study are reported. (MNS)

Presents arguments to researching response to poetry that attempts to track the process as it occurs. Describes procedures designed to ensure that the responses that are recorded come close to representing the process by which adolescent readers go about making sense of a poem. (EL)

Describes an approach to assessing the use of rules in solving problems related to Newton's third law of motion. Discusses the problems used, method of questioning, scoring of problem sets, and a general overview of the use of the technique in aiding the teacher in dealing with student's conceptual levels. (JM)

Activities are given to assist students in seeing a rationale for the difficult algorithms we teach for fractions. Both interpretations of fractions and operations with fractions are discussed. (MNS)

Describes a "Talents Unlimited" program, based on the work of Calvin Taylor, that was used successfully in a class of fifth-grade remedial readers. Includes some of the activities devised by members of the class. (FL)

Argues that when involving students in activities that require them to explore texts creatively, teachers should also make them inquire into their own reading processes--especially since the reading of literature helps the students to become aware of their own intellectual process if attention is focused on them reflexively. (HOD)

Reviews the findings of Lehman's study of age and outstanding occupational achievement along with the explanations of why major contributions most likely occur in young adulthood. Proposes an alternative explanation based on the central developmental tasks facing individuals in young adulthood and middle age. (JAC)

Describes a course titled Analytic Medicine which is intended to provide the opportunity and the necessary skills, through a problem-oriented approach, for medical students to learn to reason scientifically and to utilize analytic processes, including computers, in making clinical decisions. (Author/MLW)