The use of clocks in instruction in the elementary school classroom is reviewed. The use of nonstandard units of measure and conceptualizing the idea of time duration are two of the areas investigated. (MP)

Discusses the theoretical foundation for Ferguson's correlation between speed in detecting syntactic errors in written English and acquisition of the listening comprehension skill. A detailed analysis of Ferguson's procedure is given along with references to other pertinent literature. The original conclusions are questioned. (AMH)

The Plowden Report drew heavily on Piaget's theories of cognitive development, especially his concepts of activity and discovery learning and readiness. But Piaget's theory is not a pedagogical one and it has little to say about teaching content and methods. Recently, criticism of his theory has grown. (Author/SJL)

Twenty true-false statements are discussed as a way of presenting the scientific knowledge base on which school programs for developing literacy can be built. (Author/MLF)

The need for students of engineering to acquire the rational, methodical approaches identified with the "mathematical way of thinking" is discussed. The skill areas in mathematics most critical to engineering majors are pointed out, with proper shaping of student attitudes seen as an important role secondary school mathematics must play.…

A sample of 110 seventh-and eighth-grade students were pre- and post- tested with six self-concept measures. Covariance structure analysis of the results supported a multifaceted, hierarchical interpretation of self-concept and an inference that self-concept is causally predominant over achievement. (Author)

A letter from Thomas Sticht, written while conducting research for the United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, compares the learning situations of classrooms in schools and in battalions. (MKM)

Comments on the study reported by Lawson, Karplus, and Adi (1978) which indicated that formal schemata and propositional logic are not part of the same structured unity of mental operations proposed by Piaget. (HM)

Reports on a study investigating the relationship between children's linguistic environment and language acquisition. In particular, the study examined the effect of mothers' speech on subsequent child speech. (Author/AM)

Students enrolled in an introductory biology course were tested to measure prior knowledge and locus of control; data were used to examine trends in achievement. Findings suggest relative importance of prior knowledge and relative insignificance of locus of control in learning biology concepts at the college level. (DS)

Presented is a paradigm for science education research. The paradigm advances the reception learning theory, where regularities to be learned are presented explicitly to the learner. A tool for the study of knowledge production in science education, the Gowin "V," is presented. (RE)

A target paragraph was embedded in one passage where the target was of major importance, and one where it was of minor importance. Free recall, reading time, and usage of cognitive capacity were measured. There was greater recall when the target was important. The selective-attention hypothesis was not supported. (Author/GDC)

Attainment relative to six cognitive operations and four number and computational skills was assessed for 90 elementary students using clinical procedures. Variance associated with conservation of number, seriation, and logical classification competency accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in achievement scores. (Author/MK)

Noting that the use of behavioral objectives poses a particular problem for arts instruction, since it is difficult to formulate the aesthetic experience into identifiable behaviors, the author suggests that Polanyi's theory of tacit knowing may help explain how formal music study can influence the aesthetic experience of music. (Author/SJL)

This theoretical model for message design directs the designer to design a block of time that optimizes the information load and message complexity within the constraints of the receiver's abilities and experience, the requirements of the source, and the capabilities and limitations of the medium. (Author/JEG)