The transformation of a solid to its net is based on something quite different from simple perceptual impression. It is a mental operation performed by manipulating mental images. The aim of this study was to observe pre-service and in-service teachers' ability to visualize the transformation of a curved solid to its net and vice versa, and to try…

We report a study of 10-14 year old children's use of additive strategies while solving ratio and proportion tasks. Rasch methodology was used to develop a diagnostic instrument that reveals children's misconceptions. Two versions of this instrument, one with "models" thought to facilitate proportional reasoning and one without were…

Instructors of Composition I at Lansing Community College (LCC) in Lansing, Michigan, are required by the Department of Communication to grade a paper in four areas: content, structure, style, and mechanics. The policy, in effect in its present form since 1982, places heavy emphasis upon the conventions or "mechanics" of writing Edited…

This study examined the interlanguage syntax of Arabic speaking learners of English in the area of the noun phrase, focusing on the closed system elements that can occur before or after the noun head, the noun head and pronouns in line with Quirk and Greenbaum's (1977) treatment of the noun phrase. Participants were 25 Arabic speaking English…

This study examined learners' productive competence in collocations and idioms by means of their performance on two interdependent tasks. Participants were two groups of English as a Foreign Language undergraduate and graduate students from the English department at Jordan's Yarmouk University. The two tasks included the following: a multiple…

A study investigated patterns in phonological errors occurring in the speaker's second language in both formal and informal speaking situations. Subjects were three adult learners of English as a second language, including a native Spanish-speaker and two Asians. Their speech was recorded during diagnostic testing (formal speech) and in everyday…

The problem-solving strategies used by 10 radiologists and 10 radiology residents during the interpretation of difficult mammograms were examined under two experimental conditions. In the "authentic" condition, standard unmarked mammograms were used. On a second set of the same cases for the "augmented" condition, mammographic…

Results were interpreted as supporting an inhibition deficit theory of mental retardation. (Authors)

Examples of answers college students studying to be elementary teachers gave to sample student errors and questions in mathematics are presented. The bulk of the prospective answers are judged to have serious flaws. The analysis of such "poor" answers is suggested as a useful vehicle in teacher training programs. (MP)