Effect of film-mediated intensive instruction on basic problem-solving skills of ninth graders

How can junior high students sharpen thetr problem-solving skills? Can they be taught to observe accurately, analyze variables, and then generate a hypothesis? A number of approaches to this problem have been tried experimentally. In this study, ninth graders in two experimental groups watched a filmloop from Suchman’s Inquiry Development Program repeatedly until they could name 75 details or generate 5 hypotheses. The control and experimental groups then watched three more filmloops and were tested on both number and quality of details named, questions asked, and hypotheses generated. The assessment was repeated more than a year later with different filmloops. The results suggest that instruction in cue attendance, and perhaps hypotheses generation, would benefit junior high school students, not only immediately, but also in the long run.     

How can comprehension adjunct questions focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of a computer-animated science lesson?

Two focusing hypotheses were evaluated. First, do adjunct questions, focusing on science concepts and inserted after computer-animated sequences, selectively alter students' attentional or practice processing and thus produce differential learning effects? Theoretically, such questions selectively focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of focused concepts. Second, do these questions still provide enough metacognitive scaffolding to produce differential learning effects when only the first 8 out of 12 sequences are followed by focusing questions? Eighth-grade students (n = 160) were randomly assigned to a control group (lesson alone) or one of four treatment groups (lesson plus 12 questions focusing either on heat or on temperature, or lesson plus the same first 8 questions on heat or temperature followed by 4 placebo questions). Two significant two-way interactions with widely varying F ratios supported the differential focusing hypotheses (12 questions—more robust interaction, 8—less robust interaction).     

Content effects in self-directed inductive learning

A study is presented into the effect of familiar and abstract task content on self-directed inductive learning. Two groups of learners performed a self-directed inductive learning task in which they conducted experiments to discover the model describing the relations between five independent variables and a dependent variable. One group performed a task of familiar content, the other performed an isomorphic abstract task. During learning, indicators of the inductive learning process were gathered by means of think-aloud protocols and asking standardized questions to the learners. As expected, learning outcome was higher in the group performing the concrete task. It appeared that the number of hypotheses, research plans and inferences stated were predictive for successful learning outcome, especially in the abstract task. The content effect was explained in terms of a narrowing down of the number of possible hypotheses to be considered in the concrete task, compared to the abstract task.     

Application of Adjunct Auto-Instruction to Teaching Computer Programming

An N of 105 fifth and sixth grade Ss was randomly assigned to one of three groups: high level questioning (HQ), low level questioning (LQ), or control (C). Instructionally, the geographical themes for HQ and LQ were identical. However, in implementing instruction, higher (than recall) questions were predominately employed in the HQ and low level questions prevailed for LQ. Observers monitored the number and nature of the student responses to the questions. Analyses of variance indicated that HQ and LQ outperformed C Ss in terms of low as well as high level achievement for both post- and retention test situations (p < .01). The results, when compared to a previous study by the investigator, indicate the instructional importance of considering not only the level of questions posed but also the level of student involvement with those questions, as reflected in the response patterns.     

Voluntary use of online study questions as a function of previous minimal use requirements and learner aptitude

This study investigates voluntary use of online study questions, the relationship of study question use to examination performance, and the relationship of aptitude to study question use following an initial phase during which students either received course points for passing mastery quizzes or for completing a designated number of study questions. The results indicate a) students who first received points for completing study questions later made greater voluntary use of study questions, b) less able readers made less voluntary use of study questions than more able readers, and c) less able readers performed better on course examinations when awarded course points for completing a required number of study questions rather than quizzes.     

Responses of Mentally Retarded Children on a Visual Discrimination Task Involving Concept Formation

This study evaluated 3 groups of mentally retarded children on a visual discrimination reading readiness task. Ss included 75 mentally retarded persons residing at the Columbus State Institute divided into 5 MA groups ranging from 3 years to 8 years. Three different groups of 25 Ss were matched on CA, MA, and IQ and two of these were paired on perceptual functioning on the basis of Gellner classifications. The third group included 25 Ss diagnosed as having genetic mechanisms. The task consisted of 100 cards of three coloured pictures with two of them being associated. Results showed the minimally handicapped visual group performed higher than the other two groups. MA was highly related to success especially for the highest MA group. Implications of these data are discussed.     

ANALYSIS OF “CHUNKED” TEST ITEMS AS MEASURES OF READING AND LISTENING COMPREHENSION1

A new type of test item was developed which required Ss to recognize groups of words, i.e., chunks, whose meaning had been changed from that in the original reading or listening passage. In one study involving 52 Ss and 20 test variables, individual differences on the chunked reading test were found to correlate .68 with a multiple-choice alternate form. In another study, the decrease in listening comprehension due to increased speech rate as measured by the chunked items was roughly parallel to the decrease as measured by the multiple-choice questions. These data were interpreted as providing evidence for the validity of the chunked items as measures of comprehension. However, other results suggested that the chunked items may be less dependent upon grammatical and vocabulary knowledge and more sensitive to within individual changes in comprehension as compared to the traditional multiple-choice question.     

Self-Esteem and Classroom Participation1

Abstract

Level of self-esteem was hypothesized to be related to aspects of participation in a classroom group. Three measures of self-esteem were used to test the hypotheses that college students with low self-esteem would (1) say less in class (2) contribute a smaller proportion of their thoughts to class discussion and (3) sit farther back in the classroom than Ss with high self-esteem. These hypotheses were not confirmed for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (2) or for the Ziller Social Self-Esteem Scale (14) , but all were confirmed for the subscale of the Coopersmith inventory specifically related to school self-esteem (t= 2. 06, 3. 35, 3.86, p >.05, .01, .01.     

Effects of Adult Modeling and Rule Structure on Responses to Moral Situations of Children in Fifth-Grade Classrooms

This study examined the effects of adults modeling responses to moral situations with or without rule strucon responses of fifth-graders in a classroom setting. Ss were exposed to a model who chose a constructive, internal-control response to open-ended stories about getting-even and provided either rule statements regarding that choice (rule-structure group) or a summary of the story (no-rule-structure group) . In the control group, Ss observed no model. Findings indicated that there was a significant (p<. 10) effect of modeling on internal-control scores on post-treatment stories and of modeling combined with rule structure on constructive scores on post-treatment stories. This study is consistent with previous empirical findings of studies conducted in laboratory settings in which modeling has been effective in modifying social behavior. Further examination of modeling is recommended in natural social settings.     

How Do Adolescents Process Advertisements? The Influence of Ad Characteristics, Processing Objective, and Gender

This study investigates the influences of print advertisements on the affective and cognitive responses of adolescents. Junior and senior high school males (n = 111) and females (n = 84) were randomly assigned to either a low- or high-elaboration condition to process primarily visual and primarily verbal print advertisements. The students then responded to questions measuring three dependent variables—memory of specific facts, inference, and emotional response. Three-way ANOVA results indicated that predominantly visual advertisements elicited memory of more facts, more inferencing, and more intense emotional responses than predominantly verbal ads. In addition, females remembered more facts, made more inferences, reported stronger emotional responses, and detected the explicit claim of the ad more frequently than males. Finally, students in the high-elaboration condition remembered more details than students in the low-elaboration condition. The results are discussed in terms of implications for advertising media literacy.     

Anatomically-neutral dolls: Their effects on the memory and suggestibility of 4- to 6-year-old eyewitnesses

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the amount and accuracy of details provided in the eyewitness accounts of preschool-aged children interviewed exclusively with a verbal interview against those interviewed with anatomically-neutral dolls in addition to a verbal interview. Forty-four children, aged 4 to 6 years, were paired up and assigned as participants or observers for an event they engaged in with a confederate. Children's memory was assessed afterwards by (a) The Step-Wise Interview (Yuille, Hunter, Joffe, & Zaparniuk, 1993); (b) the Step-Wise Interview and big dolls; or (c) The Step-Wise Interview and small, detailed dolls and props. Three leading questions were incorporated into the interviews. Results indicated no main effect of interview type on the overall amount or accuracy of the children's accounts. No main effects for interview type or participant versus observer condition were observed for the leading questions. Relative to 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds recalled a greater number of overall details and were more accurate in their accounts with both types of dolls. Females were more accurate than males in their accounts with the small detailed toys and props. Implications for the use of anatomically-neutral dolls in child sexual abuse investigations are discussed.     

Assessing the effectiveness of the NICHD investigative interview Protocol when interviewing French-speaking alleged victims of child sexual abuse in Quebec

ObjectivesThe study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the flexibly structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol for child sexual abuse (CSA) investigative interviews by police officers and mental health workers in Quebec. The NICHD Protocol was designed to operationalize “best practice” guidelines and to help forensic interviewers use open-ended prompts to facilitate free recall by alleged victims.MethodA total of 83 interviews with 3- to 13-year-old alleged victims were matched with 83 interviews conducted by the same interviewers before they were trained to use the Protocol. Interviews were matched with respect to the children's ages, children–perpetrator relationships, and the types and frequency of abuse. Coders categorized each of the prompts used to elicit information about the abuse and tabulated the numbers of new forensically relevant details provided in each response.ResultsInterviewers used three times as many open-ended prompts in Protocol interviews than in non-Protocol interviews, whereas use of all other types of questions was halved, and the total number of questions asked decreased by 25%. Protocol-guided interviews yielded more details than comparison interviews. The mean number of details per prompt increased from 3 to 5 details when the Protocol was used. Even with young children, interviewers using the Protocol employed more invitations to elicit forensically relevant details.ConclusionsFrench-speaking investigators using the NICHD Protocol used open-ended prompts rather than focused questions when interviewing alleged victims. In addition, these interviewers needed fewer questions to get relevant information when using the Protocol.Practical implicationsA French version of the NICHD Protocol is now available to police officers and social workers who investigate the alleged sexual abuse of young children in French-speaking countries. This French version allowed trained interviewers to increase the use of invitations and reduce the use of more focused and risky questions. When the number of questions was controlled, more central details and more details in total were obtained in Protocol interviews, because the average prompt elicited more detailed answers in Protocol interviews. However, learning to use the NICHD Protocol required extended training and continued feedback sessions to maintain the high quality of interviewing.     

Effects on children's achievement and curiosity of variations in learner control over an interactive video lesson

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of variations in learner control on children's level of curiosity and learning from computer-based interactive video (CBIV). The content was presented as a videodisc visit to an art museum and contained both facts and concepts. A posttest-only control group design was employed with 101 first-and second-grade subjects randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions—Program Control, Learner Control, Learner Control with Advisement—or a control group. The dependent variables were achievement and three measures of curiosity. Children in the Learner Control with Advisement group scored significantly higher on the achievement posttest than the Learner Control subjects or control group. No differences were found between the Program Control and either of the Learner Control groups. For the curiosity measures, the Learner Control with Advisement subjects scored significantly higher than the control group on Content Exploration, and the subjects in the control group scored significantly higher than those in the Program Control group on Persistence.     

A Study of the Professional Personnel of Wisconsin

The study was conducted to determine if students graded by the contract method (experimental group) would retain, for a 5-week period, the knowledge level possessed at the end of a 9-session venereal disease unit and if the contract students would retain as much, or more, knowledge than students graded by the traditional method (control group) . Ss for the grade contract group (n = 27) were drawn from two junior high school health classes and Ss for the traditional grading group ( n = 30) were drawn from two other health classes. Results of the ANOVA tests conducted at the .05 alpha level indicated that 1.) the grade contract students, as well as the traditional grading students, retained the knowledge level possessed at the end of the unit, and that 2.) the contract students did not retain any more, or less, knowledge than the traditional grading students.     

Cognitive processing skills and developmental dyslexia in Chinese

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to examine the extent to which Chinese dyslexic children experience deficits in phonological and orthographic processing skills and (b) to examine if Chinese dyslexia is associated with deficits in Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing. A total of 27 Grade 4 children with dyslexia (DYS), 27 Grade 4 chronological age (CA) controls, and 27 Grade 2 reading age (RA) controls were tested on measures of phonological awareness, rapid naming, phonological memory, PASS, reading accuracy, and reading fluency. The results indicated that the DYS group performed significantly poorer than the CA and RA groups on both measures of phonological awareness and on a measure of orthographic processing but comparably to the RA group on a measure of rapid naming and both measures of phonological memory. In regard to the PASS processing skills, the DYS group performed worse than the CA controls on Successive and Simultaneous processing but comparably to the RA group on all PASS processing skills. Implications of these findings for early identification and intervention of reading difficulties are discussed.     

The effects of reinforcement frequency on performance in a multiple fixed-ratio schedule

A barpress analog to the double-alley runway was sought by varying percentage reward in the first of two consecutive FR 18s. Groups of six rats each were given 0% 50%. or 100% reinforcement upon completion of the first FR 18: after a 5-sec midtnal imterval, the second FR 18 was administered on a separate lever and all groups received CRF reward upon its completion. Group 50 Ss performed faster after nonreward than after reward. Group 50 Ss performed faster after nonreward than did 0% Ss. A measure of midtnal behavior revealed a difference between groups in orienting to the bars. When all groups were shifted to a 50% first component schedule (Phase II), there were no statistically reliable effects of prior reinforcement history on rewarded or nonrewarded responding. The Phase 1 results were taken to demonstrate a frustration effect similar to that of the double alley     

Cognitive controls: A test of their modifiability and structural arrangement

This study focused on two concepts basic to the cognitive control approach—the modifiability of cognitive control structures, and their proposed hierarchical, structural arrangement. Eighty children designated as deficient in cognitive functioning beginning at either two levels of deficiency (field articulation or leveling-sharpening) were provided one of four types of intervention. The hypotheses tested were: (a) that intervention provided directly at the level of the first deficiency would be significantly more effective than either intervention provided a level below or a level above the area of first deficiency, or of a control condition; and (b) that cognitive control structures form a hierarchical, structural arrangement. Training effects were indexed by cognitive performance measures at both pretest and pos est. The results were consistent with the initial hypothesis that cognitive control deficiencies can be remediated beer by structure-based types of intervention than by the types of skill training normally provided in the classroom. In contrast, the second hypothesis—that cognitive controls form a hierarchical, structural arrangement—was only partially confirmed. Additional systematic research into the modifiability and structural arrangement of cognitive controls was strongly recommended.     

Freedom of Choice,Task Performance,and Task Persistence

Much current educational literature argues that providing the learner more freedom in the learning situation enhances the learning process. This experiment tested two relevant hypotheses: (1) Ss who freely choose a task will perform better at that task than Ss who are forced to do it; and (2) Ss who freely choose a task will persist longer at that task than those who are forced to do it. The experiment employed a yoked-8 design in which the first S chose to perform any of five tasks, while the second S was forced to perform that same task. The results supported only the second hypothesis. A suggested explanation of the effects of freedom of choice as a psychological variable was presented.     

Cognitive style and the effects of two instructional treatments on the acquisition and transfer of the ability to control variables: A longitudinal study

Long-term retention effects of two methods of instruction used one year earlier to teach field-dependent (FD) and field-independent (FI) sixth-grade students to control variables and to transfer this ability to novel tasks were investigated. The study also examined whether or not uninstructed seventh-grade students had acquired this ability on their own. Results indicated that Treatment I produced better retention over time for both FD and FI students than did Treatment II. Treatment II was more effective for FI students than for FD students. Significant main effects for treatment and cognitive style were found on each controlling variables task when the abilities of instructed and uninstructed seventh-grade students were compared. Field-dependent students who had received Treatment I significantly outperformed FD students who had received Treatment II and FD students who had received no instruction on how to control variables. Field-dependent students who had received Treatment II performed about as well as their counterparts who had received no instruction. Field-independent students who had received Treatment I significantly outperformed FI students who had received Treatment II on two of three measures and FI students who had received no instruction on all measures. Field-independent student who had received Treatment II significantly outperformed FI students who had received no instruction on two of three measures.     

Intact and Impaired Memory Functions in Autism

This study examined memory functions in individuals with autism. Based on previous evidence of executive function (EF) deficits, we hypothesized that subjects with autism would demonstrate a pattern of intact and imparred memory functions similar to that found in other groups with EF deficits, such as patients with frontal lobe pathology. We compared the performance of high-functioning children and adolescents with autism (n = 19) and clinical comparison subjects (n = 19) matched on sex, CA, and VIQ on measures of memory and EF. The group with autism performed significantly worse than comparison subjects on measures of temporal order memory, source memory, supraspan free recall, working memory, and EF, but not on short- and long-term recognition, cued recall, or new learning ability, consistent with the predictions of the EF theory. The cognitive measures were significantly more intercorrelated in the autism group than the comparison group, consistent with a limit in central cognition.