A project that attempts to overcome the principal obstacles and to provide an efficient and effective method of teaching information retrieval skills to second-year medical students is described. The method includes a pretest, a diagnosis of deficiencies in information skills, a self-paced learning module, and a posttest. (Author/MLW)

Discussion of computer-assisted career guidance (CACG) focuses on a study that examined how cognitive structuring intervention before using a CACG system would affect subjects' occupational certainty and vocational identity. The DISCOVER system is described, Holland's hexagonal model is discussed as the intervention, and further research needs are…

Describes study that explored how adults who watch "Sesame Street" with children can facilitate the children's recognition of letters and numbers presented on the show. Treatment and control groups providing various types of feedback with preschool children are explained, posttests are analyzed, and possible implications for racial…

Ninth-grade learners used one of three versions of an interactive video lesson on basic economics theory, one based on knowledge strategy, one on context strategy, and a control version without embedded questions. Results indicated context strategy was as effective as knowledge strategy for teaching declarative knowledge and more effective for…

Offers a synthesis of the arguments for and against value-added testing (i.e., assessing how much students learn or improve or grow in school or college). Looks at alternative methods of measuring the value added in terms of the relationship between entry and exit skills. (DMM)

This study of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in computer literacy courses focuses on the effects of orienting activities and varied cognitive processing times on learning facts and deriving inferences. Highlights include computer-based instruction processing, embedded instructional activities, and suggestions for further research.…

Feuerstein's mediated learning theory was applied to a deaf population for investigating the cognitive modifiability of this population. The learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) was employed for determining transfer of learning along cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Results showed that the groups who received examiner mediation…

Two experiments investigate how attributes of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. Children in the single-coping-model, multiple-coping-model, and multiple-mastery-model conditions demonstrated higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance,…

This study examined the effect of increasing the frequency of positive self-referent verbal statements upon both overt and reported self-esteem in children with adjustment problems. Subjects were boys in special schools. Results showed a significant difference in overt self-esteem, but not in other dependent variables. (LMO)

Trained junior high school students were compared with untrained students on comprehension and recall after both were told to construct questions while reading text passages. Results indicate that training improved the question quality only for those students who had above average pretest free recall scores. (Author/LMO)

Describes an instructional experiment aimed at helping sixth-graders sustain reflective thought processes in composition independently. Instruction included modeling of thinking aloud, clue use stimulating self-questioning, and direct strategy instruction emphasizing dialectical synthesis of conflicting ideas. Results indicate gains were made at…

This study addresses four issues in the evaluation of nutrition education programs: (1) the reliability of knowledge, belief, and behavior scales; (2) the effectiveness of programs targeted to the general public; (3) the longitudinal effects of nutrition education interventions; and (4) the relationship between changes in the cognitive, belief,…

This study investigated the effectiveness of videotape as a medium for communicating skills in audiovisual instruction to education students at a university. Results indicate videotape mediated instruction can be better for developing skills in some practical aspects of audiovisual instruction than the lecture method. (MBR)

Students participating in the United States Space Camp Program were compared on the Group Embedded Figures Test and on criterion referenced measures. Results showed that persons with field-independent differentiation are more likely to show cognitive gain while studying scientific matter, regardless of the learning environment. (Author/LMO)

Two experiments investigated how attributional feedback sequence influences children's motivation, attributions, self-efficacy, and performance. Third graders lacking subtraction skills received training and solved problems with one of four ability and/or effort feedback sequences. Children initially receiving ability feedback developed higher…