Background: Obesity has become a national epidemic among youth. Declining physical activity and poor nutrition contribute to this epidemic. The purpose of this study was to obtain data on middle school students' physical activity and nutrition knowledge and practices. Methods: The Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey was developed and…

The use of online learning is growing very fast in universities. Consequently, understanding how to promote student contribution in asynchronous online discussions, which is considered an integral part of online learning, has become increasingly crucial. Previous research has examined how factors, such as instructor facilitation techniques may…

The characteristics of contemporary societies are increasingly theorized as global, fluid, and networked. These conditions underpin the emerging knowledge economy as it is shaped by the societal and technological forces of late capitalism. These shifts and developments have significantly affected the communicational landscape of the 21st century.…

This study sought to determine the effects of prior knowledge on the achievement of undergraduates in an economics course at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN). A total of 49 law and 39 economics students were given 4 instruments to test prior knowledge of economics, presented with a learning unit from the course "Economics and…

This discussion of the quality and impact of the prior knowledge state presents theoretical and empirical explorations. The theoretical discussion offers a distinct approach to the analysis of prior knowledge based on an extensive literature review of theory, models, and practice about the structure of knowledge. This base is used to define a set…

Four papers from a project concerning information-processing characterizations of the knowledge and processes involved in design are presented. The project collected and analyzed verbal protocols from instructional designers, architects, and mechanical engineers. A framework was developed for characterizing the problem spaces of design that…

Thirteen participants from 11 countries, including experts in public health, health education, social sciences, epidemiology, planning, policy-making, and program management, took part in a consultation on the monitoring and evaluation of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) education and health promotion programs in Copenhagen. A…

A cognitively based theoretical framework for the assessment of domain competence is proposed. The basic thesis is that to be knowledgeable one must know how the important concepts of a domain are interrelated. This thesis implies that any valid assessment of knowledge must capture these structural properties. The implementation of a structural…

The major purposes of this investigation were (1) to contribute to existing research on the preschool child's comprehension of disclaimers in television commercials, (2) to identify specific standard or modified disclaimers that are understood by preschoolers, and (3) to determine logical relationships between study variables. Disclaimers were…

Discussed are findings relevant to the study's first objective, involving the demographic characteristics and motivational patterns contributing to obsolescence. Responses from 65 registered nurses in a midwestern State revealed a lack of continuing education and of intrinsic motivation to remain competent. (Part 2 will identify target populations…

The findings in this study were generally inconsistent and nonsupportive of a relationship between demographic homogeneity and spousal response consensus within or across the two areas of sex knowledge and family planning attitudes. Consideration of the limitations, implications, and future directions of this research are presented. (Author/PC)

A study designed to examine the effect of test frequency on mastery of general-subject area by students in an introductory psychology course showed that both tested groups performed significantly higher than the non-tested comparison group. (Author/KM)

In the 1940s, attitudes were shown to facilitate the learning of agreeable persuasive communications. Post-1960s research, however, has failed to obtain this effect consistently. A study was conducted to investigate the role of technical knowledge in attitudinal learning in the domain of social drinking. Graduate students (N=60) verbally described…

Because there is no cure or vaccine for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), many authorities have recommended education as the primary means for controlling the spread of the disease. However, knowledge about AIDS represents a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for reduction of risky behavior. Although hetereosexual high school and…