The main goal of this study was to examine the effect of written exposure on generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)-related symptoms in high worriers. Thirty nonclinical high worriers were randomly assigned to either a written exposure condition or a control writing condition. Self-report measures were used to assess worry, GAD somatic symptoms,…

The present study investigated the effects of motivational instructions on interest, test anxiety, and text learning. Instructions to facilitate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were compared with a "neutral" instruction. The sample consisted of 375 ninth-graders. Text-related interest and test anxiety were assessed before and after the…

This preliminary study investigated the effects of a novel educational electronic book (e-book) developed by the authors to further kindergarteners' emergent literacy skills within a "paired-learning" versus "individual learning" context. Of the 72 children randomly chosen from three kindergartens in a low SES township in the country where the…

A secondary school for children with Moderate Learning Difficulties had requested assistance from psychological services for pupils that the school felt were experiencing poor motor-coordination and in some cases low self-esteem. An intervention programme for children with dyspraxic type difficulties (Portwood, 1999) was proposed as a suitable…

The study investigates immediate and delayed effects of different hypermedia glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced foreign language learners. Sixty-nine freshman TEFL students studying at a Turkish university were randomly assigned to three types of annotations: (a) definitions of words, (b) definitions…

This paper outlines the principles and theory of performance support (in general) and of electronic performance support (in particular). It explains why the design and creation of electronic performance support systems are so important as a mechanism for providing scaffolding environments for use in improving the learning experience for new (and…

The authors developed a one-credit freshman-level course designed to enhance psychological critical thinking. They based the new curriculum on Stanovich's (2004) text, with an emphasis on active learning and critically evaluating claims by applying scientific concepts. To assess the effectiveness of this course, they used a pretest-posttest design…

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a supported employment programme on measures of executive functions for 44 adults with autism, assessed at the beginning and the end of the programme period. The average length of time of the community employment was 30 months. Methods: Based on their predominant work activity…

This dissertation presents an innovative approach to the development and empirical evaluation of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) technology used for teaching and learning. It introduces IADE (Intelligent Academic Discourse Evaluator), a new web-based AWE program that analyzes research article Introduction sections and generates immediate,…

Conventional testing systems usually give students a score as their test result, but do not show them how to improve their learning performance. Researchers have indicated that students would benefit more if individual learning guidance could be provided. However, most of the existing learning diagnosis models ignore the fact that one concept…

Elementary school students often misinterpret the equal sign (=) as an operational rather than a relational symbol. Such misunderstanding is problematic because solving equations with missing numbers may be important for the development of higher order mathematics skills, including solving word problems. Research indicates equal-sign instruction…

A total of 11 children 4 years of age were questioned about the purposes and procedures of hospitalization both before and a week after a special school-based preparation program. Subjects expressed more ideas, particularly regarding what occurs in hospitals, after the program than before it. Their comments about hospitalization were more specific…

A new approach is presented for the meta-analysis of data from pre-test/post-test designs. With this approach, data from studies using different designs may be compared directly and studies without control groups need not be omitted. The approach is based on a "standardized mean-change" measure, computed for each sample within a study,…

This guidebook is one in the Target Topic Series developed to highlight issues and concerns related to effective community education operation. It is intended for the community educator and community education advisory council member who would like to learn how effective and careful planning can improve their community education program. The…