This article overviews a summative evaluation of the School Advisory Center's innovative initial reading curriculum program from 1972 to 1978 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The evaluation design used was Stake's "countenance model" with description and observation matrices. Reading achievement results were disappointing and were attributed…

Presents a psycholinguistic analysis of the development of writing skills and reports a developmental study of knowledge effects in writing. A theoretical framework decomposes the requisite knowledge into three main components: (1) generalized, high-level problem-solving plans, (2) content, and (3) discourse. (Author/SED)

Features articles on topics related to use of expert systems for training: machine intelligence effectiveness in military systems applications; automated maneuvering board training system; intelligent tutoring system for electronic troubleshooting; technology development for intelligent maintenance advisors; design of intelligent computer assisted…

Use of a critical approach in a curriculum design course for preservice teachers, by a five-phase process, would offer a beneficial shift away from the dominant "objectives first" models. This approach allows most teachers to reevaluate the processes and perspectives involved in educating children. (86 references) (CJH)

Data sets from Australia were analyzed using a causal model to determine the possible causes of sex differences in ASAT scores. Observed differences could be explained in terms of differences in students' English scores, the time the students spent studying mathematics, and their confidence in success. (Author/MLW)

A career framework is used to investigate the socially constructed knowledge that students use to make decisions concerning their preferences for further schooling. The decision-making process of students reveals attempts to assess the costs and benefits of the school experience for the maintenance of desirable self conceptions. (Author/MLW)

Regression analyses examined the relationships among: time spent (periods and hours per week) studying science; time allocated for science homework; time used by teacher; and time not spent in learning. The performance cycle model of achievement, aspiration, and attitude was supported at the between classrooms level. (GDC)

This study investigated the stability over time of: (1) student behavior in small groups; and (2) the relationships among student and group characteristics, group interaction, and achievement. Measurements were taken for two three-week instructional units, three months apart, on 110 students in three average-ability junior high school mathematics…

Presents a model, organizational procedures and evaluative findings of a science curriculum development program. Inservice teachers co-operatively developed modular science courses for underachievers, lists of science skills and attitudes, and materials for environmental science, physical science and biological science courses. (ML)

This study analyzed the Tertiary Admission Examination and Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test results for 264 pairs of 17-year-old monozygotic and dizygotic twins in Western Australia to determine if examination performance is influenced by environmental or genetic factors. Purely environmental models are rejected as inadequate explanations of…

School psychologists have experienced difficulties in assessing students' behavior disorders, because of lack of training and problems associated with the traditional medical model of abnormal behavior. An alternative assessment model is described in terms of its five principles: problem solving; functional analysis; multiple operationalism;…

Ten papers focus on applications in specific curriculum areas, modelling and simulation, and computer managed learning. Projects described include voice support for the visually handicapped, distance education, and industrial training, as well as teaching applied mathematics, several facets of engineering, zoology, and, with videodisc, observation…

Discusses pedagogical factors influencing design and construction of sophisticated educational multimedia workstations, and presents an overview of the Multi-Media Authoring Language system, an experimental test vehicle providing a framework in which to conduct hardware, software, and interfacing experiments necessary to produce a solution to…

Focuses on the positive and negative economic and political effects of study abroad for students in developing nations. Presents an empirical model, comprising 84 developing nations, to assess the long-run impact of study abroad. Presents five qualitative case studies that demonstrate the effects of study abroad on development. (SB)

Evaluates the hypothesis that boomtowns enter a period of generalized crisis and loss of traditional values/attitudes; considers impact of energy development on residents' involvement in/attachment to their community, and perceived quality of community services. Uses linear and systemic models on data from three intermountain communities…