Research on intelligent tutoring seeks to develop systems for automating education and to explore epistemological issues concerning the nature of the knowledge presented by tutors and how that knowledge can be learned. The ACT theory of skill acquisition and its successor (PUPS--PenUltimate Production System) provides production-system models of…

This study compared the effects of an elaborated unit of instruction and a hierarchical unit on students' online processing activities, efficiency of encoding new information, and facility in solving problems. Participants were six education graduate students rated as novices on the to-be-learned content--a unit on the principles of photography.…

Under normal instructional circumstances, some youngsters learn programming in BASIC or LOGO better than others. Clinical investigations of novice programmers suggest that this happens in part because different students bring different patterns of learning to the programming context. Many students disengage from the task whenever trouble occurs,…

The Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation (STACI) project is a multi-year research effort intended to examine the cognitive demands and consequences of learning from a systems thinking approach to instruction and from using simulation-modeling software. This study tests the potentials and effects of integrating the systems approach into…

A study was conducted to determine the effect of graphic format--bar, line, table, and line-table graph--on the interpretation of numerical data by field dependent and field independent students. Ninety-six undergraduate students were given the Group Embedded Figures Test and randomly assigned to one of four treatments. During the testing phase,…

Empirical validation of the Self-Identity Development Model of Oppressed People (SIDMOP) prompted the choice of a multi-methodological approach that would test the underlying theory and not the participants' ability to perform a matching task. Few identity developmental models of oppressed people have been systematically developed, and even fewer…

This paper presents an overview of recent psychological research relevant to the assessment and instruction of culturally and linguistically different students. First, general research by cross-cultural psychologists is described, focusing on the observation that types of thinking and learning behavior are influenced by social organization and…

The difficulties that younger students experience in understanding concepts related to the use of variables in computer programming are examined through descriptions of two studies: (1) detailed case studies of six highly intelligent children--three fourth graders and three sixth graders--who learned to program in BASIC during 60 hours of…

Anxiety is defined as the fear of the unknown. The construct of anxiety incorporates both psychological and physiological components. This study was designed to explore the association between psychometric results and physiological results. The association between perceived effects (i.e., psychological) and actual effects (i.e., physiological) of…

Based on research indicating that restrictive judicial language directed at jurors encourages reactance, or decisions contrary to the judge's instructions, two experiments were conducted to determine whether courtroom jurors merely admonished to ignore inadmissible evidence would be more inclined to comply with judicial instructions than would…

Modified versions of a family decision-making scale were administered to 291 students in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 and 314 parents to assess their perceptions of the degree to which the child shares power and authority with parents and participates in making decisions at home. Study 1 found support for the hypothesis that parent-child authority…

An 18-item questionnaire was designed to investigate relationships between attitude towards arms control and beliefs about nuclear weapon effects, probability of war, Soviet goals, and the importance of nuclear arms superiority. Effects of the television movie, "The Day After," were also assessed by administering the questionnaire eight…

A preliminary experiment was conducted to explore the effects of illiteracy on hemispheric specialization. Groups of literate and illiterate Iranian children were tested on three dichotic tapes consisting of monosyllabic animal names, double-digit numbers, and nonverbal environmental sounds. All children were also tested for handedness and for…

This paper presents several theoretical positions relating the construct of internal-external locus of control to depression. The distinction is made between theories emphasizing the self-blaming aspects of depression, and those viewing depression as the perception that outcomes are independent of response. It is noted that locus of control for…

The Bar-Ilan Picture Test for Young Children is a semi-projective device which was designed to fill a gap in the local diagnostic battery of the educational system. The test depicts realistic and meaningful situations which focus upon issues generally encountered in the educational environment of the young child. The demand characteristics of…