The purpose of this study was to determine the strengths and needs of first-year secondary teachers, procedures that could be of help in improving practice, and causes for leaving teaching after the first year. Results are discussed. (MT)

This article has three goals: to set forth some general claims about the course of skill acquisition; to discuss a series of counter intuitive predictions derived from the ACT theory; and to review the state of empirical evidence relevant to these predictions. (LMO)

Describes the Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (KCDI), a multiple-choice test of knowledge of child development from birth to age three in the areas of emotional, cognitive, physical, and social development. Normative data, reliability, and validity statistics are given. (Author/BL)

Explains that the concept of message discrimination was originally developed as a means of determining actual units of content that individuals extract from encounters with mass media and describes the relationship between message discrimination and the two related concepts of systematic information availability and knowledge. (DF)

This study tested 625 college students in an introductory computer course to determine their knowledge of common computer terms. Results indicate that a large proportion of the terms are used inconsistently, and not understood by either students or those who define them. Implications for teachers of computer courses are discussed. (MBR)

Examined the relationship between low income mothers' (N=243) knowledge about child development and their ability to design a quality home learning environment. Controlling for income and education, parents who knew more about critical environmental factors and infant normative development did score higher on the parenting skill measure. (JAC)

This review (extracted from a report of the same title published by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983, 0-405-522/1101) identifies some of the social, behavioral, and demographic affects on young people's perceptions of the natural world in general and animals in particular. (JN)

Assessed hearing health knowledge of 336 younger and older adults using the Hearing and Health Inventory. Data analyses revealed serious knowledge deficits regarding hearing aids, communication with the hearing impaired, and the effects of drugs and diseases on hearing. Strategies for developing hearing health education for clients are…

House medical staff of the University of California, Davis, Medical Center were administered a questionnaire to determine their knowledge of relevant medical-legal principles. Responses from 111 house staff indicated that pediatrics, physical medicine, and rehabilitation staff confronted more medical-legal issues than pathology staff. (SW)

Examined predictors of college students' school-to-work transition difficulty, level of occupational knowledge, and crystallization of vocational self-concept. Occupational knowledge predicted whether students received at least one job offer before graduation and the total number of offers. Self-concept crystallization predicted at least one…

Reviews a research study that examined zoo visitors' understanding of wildlife before and after zoo visits. Low posttest scores suggested that a zoo experience is regarded as a recreational outing rather than an educational event. Implications for educational improvement are presented. (ML)

The focus of pharmacy education and the preparation of pharmacy students for today's practice needs are discussed. Purpose and essential elements of contemporary pharmacy services, barriers on the achievement of the purposes of contemporary pharmacy services, levels of student learning, etc., are discussed. (MLW)

Reports on research that investigated the magnitude of knowledge gaps under varying levels of neighborhood newspaper publicity and organized group activities in an urban neighborhood. Concludes that high levels of group activity relate to both higher knowledge levels and greater knowledge gaps. (FL)

Looks at the manner in which a student teacher's knowledge about the purposes for teaching a subject affects his or her lesson planning. Suggests that it is not sound to study planning as a general process without considering subject content and the teacher's understanding of why that content is being taught. (RBW)

Reports the findings of a survey of 141 teachers that investigated whether public school teachers of subjects involving reading, writing, and literature read contemporary materials in these fields. (HOD)