This paper makes a critical exploration into the core epistemological assumptions of mainstream television effects research and explains why the mainstream study of the cognitive impact of television on children suffers from two reductionist tendencies, i.e., television is understood by most researchers to be solely a technical medium, and most…

The mathematics program of the Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools (APS) was evaluated during the 1985-86 school year. Data were collected via surveys, interviews, analyses of student achievement data, and reviews of publications. The subjects were 506 teachers, 90 counselors, 1,502 students, 100 principals, and 965 parents. Evaluation…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 10 titles deal with the following topics: (1) how speech acts in advertisements relate to the purpose of selling merchandise; (2) the use and evaluation of accounts in problematic episodes; (3) rhetoric as a way of knowing; (4)…

A study was undertaken to obtain and analyze input from consumer and homemaking education teachers, students, and parents regarding desired content for a clothing and textiles semester course. Of the 1,200 questionnaires mailed to parents, teachers, and students throughout Texas, 327 were returned. Of these, 178 were teacher questionnaires, 84…

A study was conducted to determine special educators' sense of concern or awareness about ethnic/multicultural issues. A questionnaire, sent to 1,000 members of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), achieved only a 17.5% response rate but was felt to represent adequately the entire group. Respondents were asked their opinions regarding the…

To see whether the subject matter of magazines of general circulation and the subject matter of public concern coincide, a study examined the volume of coverage of United States-Soviet relations, communism, and issues of nuclear warfare between the two nations in twentieth century popular magazines. The "Reader's Guide to Periodical…

The validation of Tennessee's Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST) is described. Panels of experts from teacher education institutions and local school districts performed the test item review, focusing on test validity and minimum requirements for admission to teacher education programs. Participants (136 teacher educators, 108 high school…

To help community college reading teachers be aware of the connectives (conjunctions that join other words, phrases, clauses, or sentences) used in textbooks, a study was undertaken to find out which connectives appeared in a sample of 18 textbooks and which were used in the textbooks for three different subject areas--social science, physical…

A content analysis was conducted for all 60 programs of ThinkAbout, an instructional television series designed to strengthen the reasoning skills of fifth and sixth graders and to review and reinforce language arts, mathematics, and study skills. The study comprised separate analyses of three concerns: (1) demographic characteristics of…

One of the key arguments for problem-based learning as a holistic, learner centred pedagogical method rests on the premise it addresses multiple facets of learner development rather than decontextualised, content related learning outcomes. Fostering meta-cognitive ability in an attempt to develop self regulatory, autonomous learning habits is an…

Online collaborative learning has typically been studied within the context of learning communities. Little is known about the potential influence of students' personalities on online communication, group interaction, and task engagement among members of a learning community. This study used a mixed-method, triangulation design, involving the…

Defining practical significance in program evaluations is a difficult measurement problem which can only be solved by an intimate familiarity with the measures on which effects are estimated and their content relationship to the program goals. Past attempts to provide general solutions to the size of effect problem have relied on standardized…

This document describes research which examined the principles of reward and punishment applied to certain types of behavior portrayed by characters illustrated in 30 school readers. It was hypothesized that certain portrayed values, which have political connotations, are being transmitted to young people through the indirect method of…

Prepared as part of a project designed to provide an objectively measured indication of the quality of student writing in one school district, this paper examines argumentative and narrative essays written by students at the fifth, eighth, and twelfth grade levels. The first section of the paper discusses the primary analysis of student writing…

Prepared as part of an evaluation report of a junior high school course in moral education (Skills for Ethical Action, SEA), this volume describes course implementation, acceptability, and effectiveness on a lesson by lesson basis. The purpose was to provide data for use by SEA program staff as they revised the course so that it would be more…