The interactions of three factors that may be involved with the memory for pattern or sequence in visual materials were investigated in this study: (1) arbitrariness of representation; (2) task; and (3) ability of students. The subjects, who were 29 graduate students in education, were pretested for general ability and randomly assigned to four…

An undergraduate psychology course (Models of Human Behavior) that is taught at New Orleans's Loyola University is described. The survey-type course emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human behavior and spans several major orientations in Western intellectual thought regarding human behavior. The course is intended to…

Suggested in this paper are priorities for the role of cognitive psychology in science/mathematics curriculum development and teacher education. Areas discussed include: (1) science education as a national concern; (2) how rapid advances in science knowledge and cognitive psychological knowledge have created a sense of urgency about developing a…

The subjects for this study, which examined the relationship of cognitive style and ability to the initial acquisition of computer programming competence, were 46 college students enrolled in a computer literacy course. The selected cognitive style (field-independence) and three cognitive abilities (logical reasoning, spatial ability, and…

The impact of interest on specific quantitative and qualitative measures was studied by examining the relationship between interest in research methodology by education students and knowledge in the area. The "Study Interest Questionnaire" (Winteler and Sierwald, 1987) and a questionnaire on interest in empirical research methodology were…

An increase in clinical cases indicates that trauma in school children can be connected to teacher abuse. A survey was administered to 35 college undergraduates, 40 school teachers, 41 special educators, and 65 mixed individuals from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Georgia, and Puerto Rico to determine the nature of the abuse, its…

A study of relations between perceived closeness and the level of biological maturation of male and female seventh-grade students sought additional support for empirical differentiation between closeness and acceptance. The study also investigated the relation of perceived closeness to parents' reports of satisfaction with parenting, children's…

This study was designed to provide insight regarding the psychological repercussions for students who repeatedly fail the Georgia Basic Skills Test (GBST), but are not identified as educationally handicapped. This criterion referenced test is designed to assess competency on designated minimum skills. A random sample of tenth graders were…

This paper reports the preliminary results of an investigation of the effects of (1) a schoolwide discipline plan and (2) role playing, modeling, and video utilization upon the self concept of students in grades 3-6 and educable mentally handicapped students. The Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale was used to assess the effectiveness of a…

This review of the literature on interactive video examines research and evaluation reports in the context of the continuing debate over the effectiveness of media debate and Richard E. Clark's argument that media do not have a substantial impact on learning. The literature is examined from four perspectives: (1) behavioral issues (e.g., whether…

In a study involving creative spelling, 300 kindergarten children and one first grader used computer programs to spell words in isolation and in stories they wrote. As the children made progress toward writing words in conventional spelling, they developed phonological spelling strategies similar to those that have previously been reported for…

Visual acuity as a function of target position and density was measured in a letter recognition task. A homogeneous pattern of equally-spaced elements was tachistoscopically exposed, where the target was never located at the boundaries of the pattern. The target was marked with a spatial cue to control attentional processes. With such a spatial…

This paper describes DATASIM, a comprehensive software package which generates simulated data for actual or hypothetical research designs. DATASIM is primarily intended for use in statistics and research methods courses, where it is used to generate "individualized" datasets for students to analyze, and later to correct their answers.…

Textbook presentations of Asch's classical research were used as a case example to evaluate whether an anti-group bias exists in social psychology. Ninety-nine textbooks were analyzed to evaluate whether an overemphasis on conformity was presented by textbook descriptions of Asch, and whether independence and resistance to group pressure were…

Misconceptions high school students have about constructs in the BASIC programming language were examined in this study. A total of 96 high school students received a screening test after a semester course in BASIC programming, and 56 of these students were subsequently interviewed by means of questions and short programs prepared in advance. The…