This practicum was designed to expand the scope of the inservice mathematics manipulative training program to address the lack of parent and teacher understanding of the use of manipulatives that are used by Chapter I math tutors to remediate students. A second aim was to acquaint and assist parents and teachers with remediation of educationally…

Reasons for poor performance in mathematics by students in the United States are discussed. According to the authors, too many students never experience arithmetic at a physical, concrete level. Students are drilled in arithmetic facts without any meaningful context and are given few opportunities to use numerical concepts in real-life…

This guide provides activities based on 13 Mathnet cases that are part of the television program Square One TV. Mathnet is a detective serial which ends each program. Each Mathnet activity consists of a case summary, two short activities, and one longer step-by-step activity, with a reproducible student activity page. Topics include geometry,…

The "Assessment of Functional Abilities of Moderate Learning Students" test is presented, along with a list of objectives being tested and brief test administration instructions. The test, which was developed by special education teachers of Cortland-Madison, New York, contains test items for the following 12 strands of a curriculum for secondary…

A statewide study in Louisiana revealed that third, fourth, and fifth graders who participated in 30-minute elementary school foreign language programs in the public schools showed significantly higher scores on the 1985 Basic Skills Language Arts Test than did a similar group that did not study a foreign language. Further, by fifth grade, the…

Based on the premise that psychology can be an invaluable tool to mathematics educators, this book highlights how informal mathematics develops, how children construct their view of school arithmetic, and how mathematical thinking operates. The ideas offered are intended to assist teachers in making informed decisions concerning mathematics…

Developed for use primarily with middle school age students, this introductory booklet provides a sample of innovative activities that integrate mathematics skills with science processes. The investigations employ a wide variety of readily available and easily understood materials. The 25 activities are sequenced from simple to complex according…

Connecticut's Basic Skills Proficiency Test, administered for the sixth time in October 1985, measures reading, language arts, mathematics, and writing skills. The test was intended to identify students who require further diagnosis and remediation in order to participate successfully in ninth grade classes. Results indicated that over 90 percent…

This paper outlines the current state of knowledge about how intellectual competence is acquired. Implications resulting from recent changes in the psychology of learning and development are beginning to revitalize the science of learning and instruction. Four broad topics illustrate the links between instructional experiments, fundamental…

University admission requirements and achievement levels at the time of secondary school graduation are compared for five countries: the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Japan, and West Germany. Emphasis is placed upon the structural and cultural differences in the educational systems of these countries. In addition to college admission…

In an effort to help determine the processes underlying the acquisition of various mathematical skills, this study examines some of the effects of computer based instruction on achievement in mathematics. The research reported in this document is based on the following questions: (1) what is the relationship between such attributes as sex,…

This inservice manual is intended to assist vocational education teachers in using the techniques of computer-assisted instruction in special vocational education programs. Addressed in the individual units are the following topics: the basic principles of computer-assisted instruction (TRS-80 computers and typing on a computer keyboard); money…

This resource guide provides results of a survey to validate basic skills competencies with area-specific employers and outlines available resources for each competency. Its intended audience includes the Employment Training Office's basic education instructors and other vocational educators. An introduction summarizes the survey project. The…

Employers cite the following skills as important for both blue- and white-collar entry-level workers: (1) employee application and interview skills; (2) work-related social skills and habits, especially communication and interpersonal skills; (3) basic academic skills, particularly in reading, mathematics, writing, and problem solving/reasoning;…

The purpose of this paper is to examine what is known about the costs and cost-effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) by presenting an appropriate cost methodology, applying it to CAI, and exploring the validity of four popular assumptions. These assumptions are: (1) that computer hardware accounts for most of the cost of delivering…