Standardized college-level tests of thinking have serious drawbacks, but they can be used effectively to compare results with other teachers or researchers and to suggest possible ways of measuring aspects of thinking in faculty-constructed tests. Faculty-designed tests should provide opportunities for students to use the important knowledge and…

This annotated bibliography is introduced by a description of the work of the Open University's Institute of Educational Technology (IET), which is concerned with all aspects of the academic work of the Open University and, increasingly, in wider spheres through its consultancy work and program of workshops on open and distance learning. The 1990…

Validity data were collected on tests from five aptitude clusters: information-processing (IP) componential skills, IP metacomponential skills, practical intellectual skills, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive speed. In addition, the IP activities underlying learning were elucidated. IP componential data were derived via two approaches. The…

The relationship between perceptual structure and individual differences in cognitive ability was studied through a computerized inductive reasoning task performed by 100 college undergraduates at Cleveland State University (Ohio). Measures included two psychometric tests and a set of four computerized cognitive tasks. Two components of perceptual…

A comprehensive profile of the adult learner and his or her literacy performance was educed by examining factors that are manifestations of both the formal school experience and the environment. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the tenability of 10 research hypotheses that each included one of the 10 literacy subtests of the…

This report examines the features and performance of the BUG-FINDing component of MENO-II, a computer-based tutor for beginning PASCAL programming students. A discussion of the use of artificial intelligence techniques is followed by a summary of the system status and objectives. The two main components of MENO-II are described, beginning with the…

The history of the study of human mental ability is an example of the dialectic in social science between those who interpret data within the framework of existing social inequities and those who look for perspectives that might eventually dissolve inequities. The dedication of Henry Herbert Goddard to a belief in the scientific proof of…

Although the consistency of personality characteristics has been identified in groups of persons studied from infancy into young adulthood, few such studies have been able to include older adults. To investigate the stability of personality and social characteristics among young-old and old-old adults, 72 adults (51 female, 21 male) from the…

Reciprocity of friendships and variables related to popularity were studied in 47 male and 25 female preschoolers, of whom 15 percent were nonwhite. Subjects were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Primary Self Concept Inventory, and a sociometric measure which yielded data on popularity and type of friendship pairings…

Achievement test scores in reading and arithmetic of 300 children from father absent homes and 773 children from father present homes were collected over a 2-year period and analyzed by utilizing the variables of year, sex, family status, and intelligence. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences favoring the academic achievement…

The first part of this document is the final report of a research project (1984-1989) on designing and implementing an intelligent multimedia tutoring system for repair tasks. The problem/goal and approach, equipment and implementation, experimental work, and results are discussed for three phases of research: (1) developing and testing an…

The cognitive processes in a widely used, non-verbal test of analytic intelligence--the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (J. C. Raven, 1962)--were analyzed. The analysis determined which processes distinguished between higher-scoring and lower-scoring subjects and which processes were common to all subjects and all items on the test. The analysis…

This paper describes recent research on the topic of assessment that has been conducted at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It is argued that assessment built around an interesting and challenging project that explores a particular domain (such as music, writing, drawing, mathematics, science, or programming) offers an…

Non-verbal tests are paper-and-pencil tests that are designed to measure cognitive processes that do not involve verbal language. Such tests use shapes, patterns, diagrams, and sequences to measure general intellectual skills of a non-verbal nature. The use of such tests in schools is described. Performance tests using concrete apparatus are…

There has been considerable interest in mathematical understanding. Both those attempting to build, and those questioning the possibility of building intelligent artificial tutoring systems, struggle with the notions of mathematical understanding. The purpose of this essay is to show a transcendently recursive theory of mathematical understanding…