Two adults (ages 37 and 57) with severe mental retardation in a supported employment setting (a janatorial supply company) were taught to use self-instruction in combination with multiple exemplar training to solve work-related problems. The combined strategy resulted in generalization to nontrained problems.The use of the strategy to promote…

This paper presents the Hypothesis Testing Theory/Model and the Information Processing Model developed by M. Parrill-Bernstein in relation to the field of behavior disorders. The models provide a framework for (1) studying both problem solving skills and social behavior and (2) developing intervention programs for behavior disordered adolescents.…

This paper describes some methods found to be successful in helping students learn two major thinking strategies: making and supporting generalizations, and argumentation. The paper includes sample materials involving a variety of different subject areas to provide ideas about activities that work with students at a variety of ability and grade…

This paper notes the proliferation of literature about the characteristics of Japanese education and culture. Generalizations ranging from reports of remarkable progress in subject disciplines to praise of Japanese technology, social and individual behavior, and systematic accomplishments have been cited. It is contended in this study that some of…

This study, which was concerned with the ways in which actions can be elaborated and can influence children's awareness of actions, examined the relationship between action and awareness during childrens' performance on the Towers of Hanoi problem. A total of 94 children between the ages of 6 and 8 years were asked to solve a three-disc version of…

Examined were effects of advance organizer (AO) instruction on acquisition of conservation concepts in 3- and 4-year-olds. Participants were 28 children who were equally divided into experimental and control groups, pretested, and found to be nonconservers. A sequence of two AO lessons and related learning activities was presented to the…

Research studies trying to understand, predict, and control dropout from distance education display various points of view and quite a few build on one another at a conceptual level, but their findings are rarely generalizable outside the situations in which the research is conducted. Although academics claim that new work on dropout should be…

Distance education can be examined in three ways. It can be analyzed from the standpoint of its teaching, administrative, and assessment systems. The three systems are interrelated, and examining each of them--first in isolation and then in conjunction with the other two--can provide a coherence that is useful in teaching and improving distance…

Assertive training interventions have become increasingly popular for teaching specific life skills to individuals, but spouses are rarely involved. To study the effects of training on marital relations and social skill, assertive training was conducted with married individuals (N= 4 couples) reporting less assertive ability than their spouses.…

Conventional Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery-7 (ASVAB) Arithmetic Reasoning and Word Knowledge tests, were compared with computer-administered adaptive tests as predictors of performance in an Air Force Jet Engine Mechanic training course (n=495). Results supported earlier research in showing somewhat longer examinee response times for…

The paper reviews research in the area of cognition, specifically cognitive controls (information processing habits which tend to function across a variety of content areas). The review addresses information on three research questions: (1) What cognitive factors can reliably measure and describe the differences in levels of academic achievement…

The effects of negative instances on the acquisition of the mathematical concepts of commutativity and associativity were examined. Also investigated were possible transfer effects that might result from the use of negative instances. For 64 ninth-grade subjects, results favored the treatments containing mixed instances and supported the transfer…

The authors review literature on conventional and special approaches to arithmetic instruction with emphasis on applying these approaches to the teaching of elementary learning disabled students with disorders in the area of arithmetic. Section I focuses on the instructional context of arithmetic. It is suggested that generalization teaching…

The author conducted a cross national analysis of sociological research reported in leading journals at two points in time over a ten year period to determine if sociologists' ability to produce valid social generalizations had improved significantly over the recent past. The official journals of the United States (American Sociological Review),…

If research on personality is to be productive and progressive, it is necessary to make objectives explicit and to link abstractions with common experiences. Six levels of classification outline these objectives. Level 1 involves the characterization and classification of persons. Level 2 studies attributes. Level 3 is concerned with inferred…