An assessment analysis was performed to determine whether sets of items designed to measure three different subskills of reading comprehension of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBSs) did, in fact, distinguish among these subskills. The three major skills objectives were: (1) facts; (2) generalizations; and (3) inferences. Data from…

A study investigated children's difficulty in learning color words and attempted to determine whether the difficulty was perceptual, conceptual, or linguistic. The subjects were 24 two-year-olds, half with knowledge of color words and half without, and a similar control group. The experimental subjects were given conceptual and comprehension tasks…

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the cumulative effect of the South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) on students' learning, a study examined reading and mathematics achievement by all students in the program over a 5-year period (1981-1985), as measured by the testing portion of the BSAP. Subjects were students in grades…

Intermediate-level English as a second language students were examined for levels of reading comprehension. Half of each group (experimental and control) received more complete versions of test passages than the other half, and the experimental group was taught appropriate cultural background information between tests. Background knowledge did…

The central thesis of this article is that the process of eliminating validity threats depends fundamentally on no-difference findings, a fact that has not been made explicit by researchers. The implications of this neglect are explored using examples from a number of different substantive areas such as psychology, health, and medicine.…

Children in first, second, and third grades were subjects in a study that investigated how well they drew inferences after reading their own dictated stories, peer-dictated stories, and adult-written stories. Results showed they inferred better if they dictated the story themselves or if they were accurate decoders. (HOD)

Explores the role of interpersonal cognitive complexity in the character impressions, story comprehension, response preferences, and literary attitudes of eleventh grade students. Results suggest that interpersonal cognitive complexity predisposes readers toward complex perceptions of literary characters. (HOD)

The consequences of large state testing are often uniformity of expectations for achievement. The largest impact of higher standards, then, are realized by traditionally disenfranchised student populations, particularly the least affluent who are most likely to bear the yoke of low expectation. This paper advances S. Messick's (1981) fundamental…

Discusses use of two central forms of argument, analogy and inference to the best explanation, in teaching college science. It is argued that science makes sense if the underlying reasoning makes sense, and this must be explicitly addressed in instruction. Therefore, forms of argument that link evidence to hypotheses or theories, and criteria for…

Three studies used interspecies adoption stories to examine children's understanding of the role of birth in determining animal properties and species identity. Found that most 4- to 7-year olds could reliably judge that babies would be of the same species as birth parents, but were unable to attribute properties of adoptive parents. (Author/KB)

Discussion of the integration of school library media programs into the curriculum highlights comprehension and inference generation as links between human information processing and subject area methodology. Long-term and short-term memory are discussed, and instruction in inference using narrative fiction is explained. (15 references) (LRW)

Describes a study which examined classroom discussions of content area readings and attempted to modify the discussions to reflect more higher-order thinking and critical reading. Finds that teachers did elicit more inferential responses, even though they did not effect substantial and lasting changes in classroom interaction patterns. (RS)

Experiments involving a componential approach to analogy training were conducted with 36 fourth, 34 eighth, and 96 tenth graders. Results indicate a significant positive effect on all students' verbal analogy skills and no significant effect on fourth graders' inferential skills. In-class training and reading/language arts instruction implications…

The focus here is on the students' uses for numbers in both school and home settings. The included activities emphasize a growth and development theme involving various aspects of data collection, data interpretation, probability, and statistics. Also included are parent-child extended activity worksheets. (JJK)

Describes a performance-based assessment approach utilizing science activities and questions to assess different levels of thinking. Objectives, materials, and procedures are provided for the assessment of student skills in classification, observation and inference, interpretation, and analysis. (PR)