Describes an experiment illustrating a lesson in wave interference using bright colors in a soap film. Illustrations provided. (MA)

Two demonstrations are described which are suitable for introductory chemistry classes. The first involves the precipitation of silver, and the second is a demonstration of the relationship between rate constants and equilibrium constants using water and beakers. (BB)

A pair of studies conducted with first, third, and fifth graders supports the prediction that concrete, quantitative feedback, as opposed to qualitative comments, increases the validity of children's expectations of their level of performance. (Editor)

Describes a method of selecting index terms directly from a word frequency list, an idea originally suggested by Goffman. Results of the analysis of word frequencies of two articles seem to indicate that the automated selection of index terms from a frequency list holds some promise for automatic indexing. (Author/MBR)

Describes two elementary experiments involving plasma electrical conductivity. (SL)

Studies of the psychology of hindsight have shown that reporting the outcome of a historical event increases the perceived likelihood of that outcome. Three experiments show that similar hindsight effects occur when people evaluate the predictability of scientific results. Implications for the evaluation of scientific research by lay observers are…

How often are people wrong when they are certain that they know the answer to a question? The studies reported here suggest that the answer is "too often". The psychological bases for unwarranted certainty are discussed in terms of the inferential processes whereby knowledge is constructed from perceptions and memories. (Editor/RK)

Although experts in elementary education seem unable to devise wise and productive methods of student grouping, here is one experiment in grouping that is thought-provoking and may provide a more suitable classroom environment for developing harmony in student relationships. (Author/RK)

Attempts to determine whether a sufficiently demanding and difficult interpolated task (shadowing, i.e., repeating aloud) would decrease recall for earlier-presented items as well as for more recent items. Listening to music was included as a second interpolated task. Results support views that serial position effects reflect a single process.…

Superordinate cues (e.g., "animal" for "dog") and coordinate cues (e.g., "cat" for "dog") were compared in two experiments. Associability and not the superordinate or coordinate relationship seems to be important in determining the effectiveness of cues. (Editor)

An account is given of the exceptional memory of the late Professor A. C. Aitken who was also a distinguished mathematician and mental calculator. Compared with Shereshevskii, another man with exceptional memory, he shows the scholar's reliance on conceptual mapping rather than the mnemonist's reliance on perceptual chaining. (Editor)

The existence of verification processes in recognition memory was confirmed in the context of Adams' (Adams & Bray, 1970) closed-loop theory. Subjects' recognition was tested following a learning session. The expectation was that data would reveal consistent internal relationships supporting the position that natural language mediation plays…

To help undergraduate psychology students learn basic concepts in the experimental method, a basketball game is construed as a psychology experiment. Although no formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the basketball analogy as a learning device was conducted, students responded favorably. (RM)

A FORTRAN 77 program is described that computes both the different response success-error patterns and their summary statistics for learning and forgetting in fixed trial experiments using a two-stage Markov model. (Author/GDC)

A complete package for Markov model-based fixed trial learning experiments contains four FORTRAN 77 programs. Two of the programs deliver likelihood and parameter estimates of one- and two-stage learning models, and two may be used for hypothesis testing of parameter differences between and within experimental conditions. (Author/GDC)