Effects of object training and photograph training on comprehension of category labels by 10 severely mentally retarded children and adolescents were explored. Results indicated that acquisition and transfer did not differ, yet generalization was significantly more accurate with objects than with photographs. Futhermore, generalization was…

Cognitive activity of children from 1.5 to 5 years of age participating in problem solving and in spontaneous play was analyzed in terms of the successive coordination of existing patterns and the incorporation of new mental components. Analysis identified a series of developmental levels. (Author/RH)

Discusses ways to improve quality of retrieval systems that depend on use of truncated words or quasi-word stems as indexing vocabulary. Problems of generalizability and stability of discriminant function analysis for selecting good topical terms in database drawn from abstracts of Harris Survey press releases are addressed. References are cited.…

Describes a unit on seeds designed to introduce students to their scientific and nutritional uses. Unit activities are easily done, employ a variety of process skills, and can be used at various grade levels. Suggests field trips to gather seeds, seed sprouting, and making cookies out of various whole grains. (JM)

On the basis of a study involving 40 first-grade students, compares Pascual-Leone's and Keating and Bobbitt's developmental theories of information processing by contrasting their predictions about a classification task. Results falsified Keating and Bobbitt's model. Predictions from Pascual-Leone's theory were almost wholly confirmed. (RH)

Discusses the characteristics of pressure groups and how they attempt to influence decision making. Provides a synthesis of three typologies classifying pressure groups. Offers school administrators suggestions for dealing with pressure groups, emphasizing the need to accommodate various interests within the educational system. (MLF)

Organized data describing school facilities are necessary for planning. Eleven categories that organize facility data by components are listed and discussed individually. (MLF)

This study explored ways in which lecturers prepare and give lectures. Factor analysis yielded six scales for identifying approaches to lecturing, and subsequent cluster analysis yielded five distinctive types of lecturer's styles. The styles were associated significantly with subject area, marginally with status, but not with years of experience.…

Discusses the concept of temperament interactions in the context of statistical interaction. Categorizes temperament interactions that involve temperament as an independent variable, as a dependent variable, or as both. Describes use of hierarchical multiple regression for the analysis of temperament interactions. (Author/CI)

Reviews current themes in sentencing and prison policy. The eight articles of this special issue discuss selective incapacitation, prison bed allocation models, computer-scored classification systems, race and gender relations, commutation, parole, and a historical review of sentencing reform. (JAC)

Indicates what the non-verbal elements in education are, some ways in which these new perspectives have been developed, and suggests some ways in which a coherent program of study, practice and research could be developed. (Author/RK)

Described is a taxonomy for determining the quality and extent of learning activity going on in a classroom at a given time. Research findings indicate that teachers should always stay within the frame of reference of pupils and encourage them to reflect at a deeper level on what they already know. (Author/DB)

Using Bloom's taxonomy as the basis for an empirical investigation, this paper examines what engineering students and professionals want from engineering education. Fifty engineering students, from Computer Science and Information Technology courses, were asked to rank activity verbs in order of their impression about frequency of their occurrence…

This explorative data mining project used distance based clustering algorithm to study 3 indicators, called OIndex, of student behavioral data and stabilized at a 6-cluster scenario following an exhaustive explorative study of 4, 5, and 6 cluster scenarios produced by K-Means and TwoStep algorithms. Using principles in data mining, the study…

"Occasional Papers" deal with varied aspects of librarianship and consist of papers that generally are too long or too detailed for publication in a periodical, or are of specialized or contemporary interest. This latest volume in the series is a detailed look at the causes of and cures for the two fundamental types of misinformation…