With the intention of expanding opportunities to support faculty research, teaching, and professional growth and development, the University of Missouri established two additional types of leaves--the research leave and the developmental leave. The guidelines pertaining to the awarding of sabbatical leaves and sources of funding are discussed.…

An innovative instructional program designed to improve children's skills in referential communication, especially in communicating descriptions and instructions, is evaluated. Insights gained into classroom organization and the teacher's level of adoption of the innovation are discussed. (MSE)

A project to (1) develop and apply a microcomputer simulation program to enhance clinical medication problem solving in preclerkship and clerkship students and (2) perform an initial formative evaluation of the simulation is described. A systematic instructional design approach was used in applying the simulation to the disease state of rheumatoid…

Elementary school children's ability to monitor other children's reading comprehension was examined through the use of a cloze test. Considered were children's ability to correct other children's errors, differences attributable to reading ability level, and the effect of context distance on task performance. (MSE)

Presents perspectives on creating new technology-based supports for science learning. Reviews current philosophies concerning the interpretative nature of scientific inquiry and discusses the difficulties of students and teachers in science education. Describes a prototype software system for supporting scientific inquiry processes in students.…

Reviews software that focuses on writing skills for children aged 2 to 15. Includes information on public domain and commercial programs on learning the alphabet, basic penmanship, sentence structure, and writing book reports and essays. Provides ordering information on the suggested programs. Explains how parents can help. (ML)

Critiques five arguments cited in support of process science. Considers the problematic nature of the processes and consequent difficulties encountered in mirroring these processes. Suggests an alternative way of viewing physics education through a trio of types of knowledge which can be used as governing principles in shaping education. (RT)

Sixteen individuals with autism and sixteen with Down's Syndrome, aged 10-29, were matched for verbal mental age. The groups' scores did not differ on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. However, the adaptive skills of Down's Syndrome individuals kept pace with mental age, while the skills of autistic subjects did not change. (Author/JDD)

A Furman University program called School Initiated Teacher Education Outreach trained school personnel as peer inservice providers and consultants to general education personnel. The 61 special education teachers, speech therapists, and curriculum specialists completed three courses on inservice content and presentation and peer consultation.…

Interviews were conducted with 20 Scottish special education teachers who undertook a one-year, full-time inservice course. Teachers cited increased confidence, personal and professional development, deeper thinking, and increased flexibility and awareness as gains from the course; specific skills, which are emphasized in short inservice courses,…

Describes study of home economics students at Ohio State University that investigated whether computer animated graphics that replicate mental images of rotation and dimensional transformation would be useful in the development of spatial skills. Orthographic drawings are described, and results for treatment and control groups are analyzed. (29…

A model is described to help writers of English as a second language to clarify and rewrite written work which may be incoherent and, as a result, fail to communicate the writer's intentions. The model's steps include reconstructing the reader-writer interaction, uncovering covert questions, and redrafting. (Author/CB)

Describes readiness activities which introduce telecommunications skills into the classroom. Computer activities and programs that simulate message writing and data retrieval are highlighted, and writing exercises that do not require computers are also included. Specific instructions are given for PFS readiness, a program which simulates an…

Defines cognitive computer tools as software programs that use the control capabilities of computers to amplify, extend, or enhance human cognition; suggests seven ways in which computers can aid learning; and describes the "Learning Tool," a software package for the Apple Macintosh microcomputer that is designed to aid learning of…

Summarizes a one-year study of five Anglo and nine Hispanic Massachusetts' ninth-grade beginning algebra students intended to analyze students' manipulative skills, problem-solving habits, and attitudes toward algebra. Proposes recommendations to improve algebraic problem-solving skills of students in general, and of Hispanics in particular. (NEC)