Summarizes the experimental evidence that indicates that text indexing systems based on the assignment of appropriately weighted single terms produce retrieval results superior to those obtained with more elaborate text representations, and provides baseline single term indexing models with which more elaborate content analysis procedures can be…

Suggests picture books are made more difficult for kids to predict, to make sense of, and to learn from by fitting them into the didactic framework of basals. Discusses the picture book genre. Compares the original version of "Ira Sleeps Over" to the basal version. Examines in detail how picture books are made to fit into a basal…

Directors of police academies in all 50 states were contacted regarding training policies for new officers. Of 48 states responding, 36 reported they require instruction on persons with disabilities. Analysis of training content revealed that most academies provide training about mental illness, but few include training about learning…

Discusses the design of graphical user interfaces. Highlights include conceptual models, including user needs, content, and what multimedia can do; and tools for building the users' mental models, including metaphor, natural mappings, prompts, feedback, and user testing. (LRW)

Study examined how secondary student teachers in history read and interpreted historical texts, constructed truthful accounts, and approached an epistemology of history. Subjects read and thought about the same eight documents. Results indicated that the nature of student teaching may not lend itself well to reflection on epistemological matters.…

Qualitative content analysis of three texts used to prepare trade and industrial teachers in occupational safety and health examined definitions of health/safety problems, allocation of responsibility, social context, and collective responsibility. Implementing practices from these texts could free teachers from responsibility for negligence and…

Summarizes the content of the federal constitution and various state constitutions regarding freedom of the press. Examines certain borderline issues, including actions and expressions, pornography, defamation, libel, and copyrighted material. States that regulation of unprotected material must be reasonable, specific, and clear. Discusses what…

Considers the linguistic choices of candidates in the 1992 presidential election debates as intending to display presidential character and as suggestive of an ability to satisfy voters' needs. Analyzes the three candidates' dimensions of perceived character and ability to address needs. (HB)

Contends that, because of rising textbook costs and related factors, many college psychology teachers are interested in paperback textbooks. Reports on a review of 11 psychology textbooks. Includes 4 tables of comparison data and a list of the 11 texts used in the study. (CFR)

Examined the portrayals of environment and development in two commercial movies: "Ferngully, The Last Rain Forest" and "Medicine Man." The two movies differed in their portrayal of the issues, presumably because of their targeted audiences. Suggests that further research is necessary. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/MDH)

Examines the 18th-century rhetorical convention of misogynist satire and how it shaped attitudes toward women speakers. Focuses not so much on the formal properties of the satire but on its convention and content as modes of insinuation. Surveys prominent journals, newspapers, magazines, and reviews of the period. (TB)

Examines coverage in three leading newspapers, finding that explicit assessments of the 1992 presidential candidates' character were present in seven percent of all news articles and one-third of op-ed items, with the vast majority unfavorable. Shows that Bill Clinton was consistently assessed as a "slippery obfuscator," George Bush as…

Examines the developing publication forms in the electronic environment in light of critical perspectives on textuality, historical dimensions of technological change, and economic and political considerations. Suggests that books will be significantly altered in the networked future and concludes that impediments to change are cultural, not…

Several issues related to the design and reporting of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are discussed in the context of current expectations for the NAEP and its origins. These issues include: (1) content coverage and format; (2) estimation procedures; and (3) reporting problems. (SLD)

Analyzes the content of chapters on education in 22 introductory sociology textbooks. Argues that the texts focus on the northern industrialized nations to the exclusion of developing nations' educational issues. Suggests that textbook coverage of northern influence, cultural factors, alternative developing nations' educational models, inadequate…