Effects of group size and advance organizers on learning parameters when using microcomputer tutorials in kinematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the use of CAI tutorial programs, incorporating advance organizers and involving various sizes of groups of subjects, would affect students' achievement scores, retention scores, and rates of learning. Used as subjects were 100 suburban high school physics students running interactive tutorial physics programs focusing on strobe simulation and displacement-time and velocity-time graphs. For fifty students (experimental group) an advance organizer program preceded each tutorial. The remaining fifty students (control group) had an advance non-organizer program preceding each tutorial. While pursuing the tutorials the students worked individually or together in groups of two, three, or four. Five days were allocated for the students to repeat the four tutorials until 90% competency level was attained. Achievement and retention were measured by individually administered paper-pencil teacher-made tests sampling the content of all four tutorials. Rate of learning was determined for groups by the number of times the first three tutorial programs were executed in order to attain 90% competency. In the two-way analysis of variance the only significant result at the 0.05 level pertained to group size. Results of the Tukey Test revealed that students working in groups of three and four on CAI tutorials had significantly better rates of learning than students working alone. No significant differences in achievement or retention were observed for the various groups. The implications for using CAI tutorials in physics point to grouping students in fours as a time saving and economic method of presenting material without significant loss of achievement or retention.     

The effect of subsuming concepts on student achievement on unfamiliar science learning material

Students enrolled in an undergraduate chemistry class were rank ordered by their performance on a test of organizing ability. The median break was used to form two groups: good organizers (GO) and poor organizers (PO). Students within these groups were randomly assigned to treatments. Treatment I subjects received an advance organizer followed by a learning passage. Treatment II subjects received the same organizer preceeded by the learning passage. Treatment in subjects received an historical nonorganizer and the learning passage. No significant differences were observed on treatment or interaction, but GO group achieved significantly higher learning passage scores than PO group.     

Differently structured advance organizers lead to different initial schemata and learning outcomes

Does the specific structure of advance organizers influence learning outcomes? In the first experiment, 48 psychology students were randomly assigned to three differently structured advance organizers: a well-structured, a well-structured and key-concept emphasizing, and a less structured advance organizer. These were followed by a sorting task, a text study phase, and a posttest. The results indicated that differently structured advance organizers lead to different proto-schemata before and different learning outcomes after the text study phase. The second experiment replicated and extended these findings with 53 mathematics students. As in experiment 1, three differently structured advance organizers were used; but to rule out alternative explanations, the sorting task between the advance organizer and the text study phase was omitted. The results showed strong beneficial effects of well-structured advance organizers on near and far transfer tasks. Taken together, both experiments support the claim that the structure of advance organizers has an effect on preliminary schemata and learning outcomes. On a general level, the results indicate that advance organizers can support the generation of proto-schemata and thus can be more than the activation of “existing” concepts in long-term memory. With regard to education, this implies that educators should not only think about whether prior domain-specific knowledge is present, but also about how to scaffold the generation of proto-schemata at the beginning of instruction.     

Advance organizers in videos for software training of Chinese students

The effectiveness of demonstration-based training (DBT) videos for software training has been investigated for a Western audience. These studies have generally found that the demonstration videos significantly enhanced self-efficacy and task performance, but also that there was a gap between task practice and learning with the latter lagging behind. The present study investigated the effectiveness of DBT-videos for software training of Chinese students. The control condition presented demonstrations only. In the experimental condition demonstrations were preceded with advance organizers that aimed to enhance learning. The 61 participants (mean age 11.8 years) came from a middle school in China. Data analyses revealed that self-efficacy significantly improved in both conditions. Task performance success also increased significantly over time. The familiar gap between task practice and learning was found between task practice and outcomes on an immediate post-test. However, on the delayed post-test this difference had disappeared. An effect of the advance organizer was found for accuracy of the self-efficacy appraisals, and for gain scores from pretest to delayed post-test. It is concluded that DBT-based demonstration videos are moderately effective for software training of Chinese students, and that it can be beneficial to precede these with advance organizers.     

A longitudinal study of the predictive validity of the system of multicultural pluralstic assessment (SOMPA)

The System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) was initially administered to 700 Anglo, 700 Black, and 700 Hispanic children in California elementary schools in order to develop a nonbiased testing program. Ten years later, 1184 of the original 2100 youths were again tested with the SOMPA in high school. At that time, academic achievement and parental interview data also were collected. The results indicate that: (a) Mean achievement test scores and GPAs for the high school students showed that Anglos obtained higher scores than Hispanics, who received higher scores than Blacks. (b) Among the various medical measures, the Bender Gestalt, Fine Motor Sequencing and Finger-Tongue Dexterity tests of the SOMPA were the only ones able to consistently differentiate between youth who did poorly and those who did well academically ten years after their initial testing. (c) Scores on the 1972 IQ test (WISC-R) showed moderate correlations with achievement test scores ten years later. (d) 1972 IQ scores showed low but reliable correlations with GPAs ten years later. (e) In only a very few instances were IQ correlations with achievement test scores higher for minorities than for Anglos. (f) IQ correlated less well with GPA than with achievement test scores for all three ethnic groups. (g) An adjusted IQ, called Estimated Learning Potential (ELP), was more predictive of school achievement than was verbal IQ, particularly for Blacks in the lowest sociocultural quartile. (h) In the second lowest sociocultural quartile, the VIQ correlations with academic measures were reliably higher than the VIQ-ELP correlations, but only for the Anglo and total groups. (i) In the upper two sociocultural quartiles, for all ethnic groups combined, VIQ correlated slightly, but significantly, higher than ELP with school achievement. (j) Also in the upper two quartiles, VIQ correlated higher with academic measures than did VIQ-ELP for both Blacks and Hispanics in almost half of the comparisons. In conclusion, it appears that some subtests of the SOMPA may have some validity for predicting school achievement for students from different ethnic groups.     

Home again: effects of the Mother-Child Home Program on mother and child

4 successive cohorts of low-income families were randomly assigned either to a home-based intervention program that focused on modeling verbal interaction between mother and child around selected toys and books or to comparison treatments. Large program effects were found on maternal interaction styles in videotaped observations. Small IQ and program-specific effects were found for children in contrast to much larger IQ effects found in earlier research. IQ effects did not appear to have been mediated by changes in maternal behavior. A variation in which toys and books were supplied without home visits was as effective as the full program on IQ but not on maternal behavior. 3 years postprogram , there were no detectable effects in achievement or IQ tests or in first grade teachers' ratings of school adjustment and performance, but IQ and achievement scores were near national norms. Reasons for discrepancies with earlier results are discussed. The results highlight the need for continued experimental evaluation of early intervention programs with safeguards to insure that samples are educationally at risk.     

Screening for giftedness with the Slosson and the scale for rating behavioral characteristics of superior students

Children who had been nominated as potential candidates for gifted programs were assessed to determine the relationships among certain behavioral and intellectual characteristics. Records were compiled listing 132 first- through eighth-grade children's race, sex, age, grade level, Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) IQ scores, Scale for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS) scores, and WISC-R IQs. Only children achieving SIT IQs of 130 or higher were included. A regression equation for the prediction of a WISC-R Full Scale IQ score from a given SIT score was computed and compared to that developed for predicting the WISC-R IQ in another study. All variables except SIT IQ were poor predictors of WISC-R IQ scores. A moderate correlation was computed between SIT and WISC-R Verbal and Full Scale IQ scores. A somewhat lower, but still significant, degree of relationship was found between SIT and WISC-R Performance IQ scores. Some difficulties with using the SIT as a screen for gifted programs are discussed.     

A comparison of PPVT and SIT scores of young children

Eighty-four children from rural, urban, and suburban families were tested with the PPVT during a parent intervention program and with the SIT three years later as part of program evaluation. Results indicated the mean IQ on the SIT was substantially higher than expected based on the earlier PPVT scores. Sampling error and examiner error were excluded as explanations for the difference. These results suggest that the PPVT and SIT yield different scores and lack comparability.     

Instructors Learn to Help Students Apply Principles

Abstract

The Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests, verbal and nonverbal, were administered to 115 eighth-grade boys and 150 eighth-grade girls who had taken the tests in grade three or four. Estimated true changes in IQ from grades three and four to grade eight were calculated. It was found that 1) estimated true (E.T.) nonverbal changes were more than three times as great as (E.T.) verbal changes for both boys and girls, 2) both verbal and nonverbal IQ scores tended to rise, 3) grades three, four, and eight verbal IQ scores correlated more highly with each other than did grades three, four, and eight nonverbal IQ scores, and 4) there was no significant product moment correlation between (E.T.) verbal and (E.T.) nonverbal IQ change scores.     

The relationship of student interest and advance organizer effectiveness

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship of learner interest and advance organizers with test performance. Student interest was measured before instruction and at several different times following instruction. The advance organizer, in a chart format, presented the key information upon which the instruction was based. Results indicated that the advance organizer had no positive effect on test performance in either study; however, student interest appeared to be affected by the presence of an advance organizer. Interest was a significant covariate. Specifically, the level of interest immediately following introduction of the material but prior to actual instruction changed when advance organizers were introduced. An “overjustification” hypothesis is discussed in relationship to these results.     

The effect of imaginative play actions on language development in five-year-old children

The study, using 60 five-year-olds, investigated forms of play: (a) self-action, (b) puppet-action, and (c) control treatments and differences between the sexes on aural language recall scores using semantic, absolute, and syntactic criteria. The results of the preliminary analyses between treatment groups and sex differences on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Harris-Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test indicated no significant main or interaction effects. The subjects in treatment groups and boys and girls were relatively homogeneous on receptive language IQ and motor coordination, respectively. With 3 × 2 factorial analysis of variance experiments run on aural language recall for each of the three criteria, several significant results were noted: (a) Using the semantic criteria for scoring aural language recall, self-action play yielded significantly higher mean scores than either puppet-action or control groups. (b) Using the semantic criteria to score aural language recall, girls yielded significantly higher scores than boys. (c) Using either the absolute or syntactic scoring criteria, the results of the analysis indicated no significant main or interaction effects on aural language recall.     

Elevated picture completion scores: a possible indicator of hypervigilance in maltreated preschoolers

OBJECTIVE: The Picture Completion subtest of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) measures visual alertness and the ability to differentiate essential from nonessential details. In children who are hypervigilant as a result of maltreatment, these skills may be over-functioning. It was hypothesized that the Picture Completion subtest scores of these children would be significantly elevated in comparison to their other nonverbal scores and their overall intellectual functioning. METHOD: Fourteen children from a therapeutic day treatment preschool program for maltreated children were administered the WPPSI-R. Standardized discrepancy scores between Picture Completion scores and Performance mean scores (PC-Performance Discrepancy) and the mean of all subscale scores (PC-Overall IQ Discrepancy) were formed and then analyzed. RESULTS: The abused preschoolers scored significantly lower than the population mean on four of the five WPPSI-R Performance subscales. Only on Picture Completion did they score significantly higher. Average PC-Performance Discrepancy and PC-Overall IQ Discrepancy scores were greater than one, indicating that the mean difference of children's Picture Completion score from either their Performance mean score or all of their mean scores was more than one standard deviation. CONCLUSION: Elevated Picture Completion score may serve as a marker for hypervigilance and/or PTSD in children with histories of maltreatment.     

INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF CREATIVITY AND IQ ON NINTH-GRADE ACHIEVEMENT

The interactive effects of IQ and creativity upon ninth-grade achievement were examined, with special focus upon the IQ threshold concept of Torrance He hypothesized that achievement is predicted better by IQ than by creativity below the IQ threshold, while IQ validity decreases as creativity validity increases above the threshold. This implies an IQ X Creativity interactive effect on achievement. If an IQ threshold exists, regression weights for IQ X Creativity interactive predictors should be statistically significant when included in multiple regression equations. Three creativity factor scores were estimated and were each multiplied by IQ to define three moderated or interactive predictor variables. A slight though statistically significant increase in validity resulted by adding the moderated variables to IQ and the three factor scores in multiple regression equations. Thus, there was weak support for the existence of an IQ threshold, but the regression of achievement on creativity decreased rather than increased with higher IQ.     

Conditional Standard Errors of Measurement for Scale Scores

Standard errors of measurement of scale scores by score level (conditional standard errors of measurement) can be valuable to users of test results. In addition, the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1985) recommends that conditional standard errors be reported by test developers. Although a variety of procedures are available for estimating conditional standard errors of measurement for raw scores, few procedures exist for estimating conditional standard errors of measurement for scale scores from a single test administration. In this article, a procedure is described for estimating the reliability and conditional standard errors of measurement of scale scores. This method is illustrated using a strong true score model. Practical applications of this methodology are given. These applications include a procedure for constructing score scales that equalize standard errors of measurement along the score scale. Also included are examples of the effects of various nonlinear raw-to-scale score transformations on scale score reliability and conditional standard errors of measurement. These illustrations examine the effects on scale score reliability and conditional standard errors of measurement of (a) the different types of raw-to-scale score transformations (e.g., normalizing scores), (b) the number of scale score points used, and (c) the transformation used to equate alternate forms of a test. All the illustrations use data from the ACT Assessment testing program.     

The long-term stability of WISC-R scores in mildly retarded and learning-disabled children

This study addresses the need for systematic longitudinal research documenting the stability of WISC-R scores in special education populations. WISC-R scores of 100 learning-disabled and 60 mildly retarded children retested on three separate occasions at three-year intervals were examined. The stability of WISC-R scores was evaluated according to three different criteria: (a) the consistency of group means over time, (b) the frequency of significant changes in individual scores, and (c) correlations between administrations as an index of stability of subjects' relative positions in the group. Different results were obtained depending on the criterion considered. Examination of group means and correlation coefficients indicated that Full Scale IQ was fairly stable over a period of six years for both learning-disabled and mildly retarded samples. However, greater variability was noted when examining the frequency of changes in individual subject's scores. Verbal IQ and Performance IQ demonstrated somewhat more variability by all criteria examined. The implications of these results with regard to the importance assigned to IQ in special education classification decisions, the usefulness of retesting IQ in three-year reevaluations, and the efficacy of special education are discussed.     

成人院校《高等数学》课堂教学中先行组织者的设计

本文以当代教育心理学的研究成果为基础,结合笔者的教学实践,提出通过设计"先行组织者",来提高成人院校非数学专业高等数学课的课堂教学效率.实践证明,高等数学教学中设计"先行组织者"的尝试取得了很好的教学效果.     

Twenty years of research on advance organizers: Assimilation theory is still the best predictor of results

Forty-four published research studies involving advance organizers were reviewed. Twenty-seven studies included an advance organizer vs. a control group (standard advance organizer study) and 17 studies included an advance organizer vs. a post organizer group (modified advance organizer study). Results of the studies were compared to the predictions of several theories. In addition, four specific predictions of assimilation theory were evaluated: that advance organizers should have a stronger effect for poorly organized text than for well organized text, that advance organizers should have a stronger positive effect for learners lacking prerequisite knowledge, that advance organizers should have a stronger effect for learners lacking prerequisite abilities, and that advance organizers should have an especially strong effect on measures of transfer rather than retention.     

The effects of advance organizer and prerequisite knowledge passages on the learning and retention of science concepts

Fifty-five ninth-grade science students participated in this study which compared the effects of two pretreatments, an advance organizer and a prerequisite knowledge passage, on learning and retention measured at low (knowledge and comprehension) and high (application and analysis) levels of the cognitive domain. The effectiveness of the pretreatments was measured by a framework test and a prerequisite knowledge test prior to the beginning of instruction. An analysis of covariance, with IQ as the covariate, was performed on the framework test and the prerequisite knowledge test. It was found that the advance organizer group performed significantly better than the prerequisite knowledge group (p < 0.001) on the first framework test, and the prerequisite knowledge group performed significantly better (p < 0.001) than the advance organizer group on the prerequisite knowledge test. These results provide evidence that both passages were read and understood by the students and that the passages had their intended effects as preinstructional treatments. An analysis of covariance, with IQ as the covariate, was performed on the low-level questions, high-level questions, and total score for the posttest and retention test. The group means for the two question levels and the total score were not found to be significantly different (p > 0.05) for either the posttest or retention test. The results of this study do not provide evidence that an advance organizer facilitates learning and retention more than a preinstructional treatment that concentrates on developing prerequisite knowledge.     

Improving comprehension of expository text in students with LD: a research synthesis

This article summarizes the findings of research studies designed to improve the comprehension of expository text for students with learning disabilities. Twenty-nine studies were located that met the inclusion criteria. Interventions gleaned from the review were categorized as content enhancement (i.e., advance and graphic organizers, visual displays, mnemonic illustrations, and computer-assisted instruction) or cognitive strategy instruction (i.e., text structure, main idea identification, summarization, questioning, cognitive mapping, reciprocal teaching). Treatment outcomes are discussed in relation to the various instructional approaches, student characteristics (e.g., grade, IQ), instructional features (e.g., materials, treatment length), methodological features, strategy maintenance, and generalization components. Implications for classroom practice and future research directions are provided.