Discussion of expert and novice performance and the organization of knowledge focuses on a study that investigated the influence of mental models on performance differences between expert and novice service technicians who troubleshoot faculty generator sets. Behavioral and cognitive methods of analysis are described, and implications for…

Discusses the current emphasis on assessment of library effectiveness and describes several assessment techniques. It is argued that, by encouraging staff to develop an attitude of self-assessment based on their ability to add value to library services, the assessment phenomenon can be used to improve the overall quality of libraries. (11…

This study compared use of trainer demonstrations and use of visual cues across varying difficulties of task, by 20 mentally retarded secondary-aged students. Results found that photographs and line drawings were more effective with mildly/moderately retarded students than demonstrations when working with complex tasks. No differences were found…

Discusses previous research that examined the effects of different kinds of vocabulary control on retrieval effectiveness, and describes a study that addressed the effects of indexing depth on standard retrieval evaluation measures in the context of a typical commercial retrieval system. It is concluded that controlled vocabularies affect…

Explores developmental students' attitudes toward writing as a reflection of their writing performance. Finds that the skills of students with positive attitudes toward writing improved significantly more than did those of students with neutral or negative attitudes. Includes a student writing attitude questionnaire and a questionnaire analysis…

Reviews the results of studies that have measured manual and online reference performance in public libraries. Topics discussed include librarian interactions with patrons; characteristics of successful online searches; the recall and precision tradeoff; and the cost effectiveness of online searching. (two references) (CLB)

A model for student evaluation of the effectiveness of particular adult education instructors and settings is described. Importance-Performance Analysis--the two-scale model used--identifies the relative importance of factors influencing student preferences and indicates the degree to which a particular setting possesses these factors. (TJH)

Positively correlated were verbal fluency scores and scores for strategies expected to distinguish levels of verbal fluency among 64 third-graders and 71 sixth-graders. When a smaller sample of similarly aged students completed expanded versions of tasks, results revealed grade and gender differences in strategy use and level of task performance.…

Assessing Markman's hypothesis that the organizational principles underlying collection concepts facilitate children's performance on cognitive tasks requiring part-whole comparisons, three experiments indicated that the facilitative effect of collection labels appears to be specific to the class-inclusion task. Results suggest that Markman's…

Examined were the influences of three conditions of predictability on word-recognition performance by 30 normally hearing listeners. Significant differences in word recognition were observed among high-predictability phrases, low-predictability phrases, and a constant predictability-neutral carrier phrase, using three specific signal-to-babble…

Results from a 4-year study tracking creative problem-solving success rates among 952 managers in 8-person teams (4 planners and 4 implementers) are reported. Coordination of subteam role (task) with Kirton Adaption Innovation Inventory (KAI) type significantly increased group success rates, while placing KAI types outside their preferred roles…

This study examined the perceived difficulty of the dichotic listening task and strategies used in performing the task among boys with reading disability, age-matched boys, and reading-matched boys. Boys with reading disabilities and younger reading-matched boys were more likely to find the dichotic model confusing when the left ear was attended…

Investigates retrieval performance of controlled and uncontrolled subject representations as a function of retrieval expectation in the cystic fibrosis (CF) database. (Contains 22 references.) (KRN)

Sixty-one adolescents with learning disabilities received clear or unclear instructions from an adult before completing the Rorschach Arrangement Task and a test of abstract thinking. Adolescents receiving clear communication performed significantly better and used more efficient cognitive strategies than did adolescents in the unclear…

Describes the conceptualization, start-up, and initial implementation of an evaluation approach that has been integrated into a network of 25 language centers participating in the British Council/Overseas Development Administration instructional English language training project. The evaluation is shaped by a framework based on a performance…