Negative instances and the acquisition of the mathematical concepts of commutativity and associativity

The effects of negative instances in the acquisition of the mathematical concepts of commutativity and associativity were examined. Two treatment levels for commutativity (positive instances or positive and negative instances) and the same treatment levels for associativity were crossed to form a 2 × 2 factorial design with 21 subjects per cell. Subjects were undergraduate elementary education majors. Criterion variables were number of correct responses, stimulus intervals, and postfeedback intervals. Results supported the contention that negative instances enhance concept acquisition but also appear to require more time during treatments. No evidence for a transfer effect for negative instances from one concept to another was found.     

Environment and the College Student

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an environmental education professional development course using Stake's Countenance Model as the organizational framework. A complex analysis of 10 course features using 8 evaluation instruments focused on congruence between what was intended to occur and what was actually observed to occur before, during, and after instruction. The Stake model demonstrated its effectiveness by facilitating a thorough examination of both quantitative and qualitative data during all phases of course execution.     

The Development and Evaluation of an Instrument to Assess the Attitudes of Public School Principals

This study examined the relationship among declarative, conceptual, and procedural knowledge in the acquisition of ruler measurement skills. Sixth-grade industrial arts students were taught how to use a ruler with one of two instructional methods; the fractional method was based on an understanding of fractions, whereas the line identification method required no understanding of fractions. Results indicated that the line identification method was superior overall to the fractional method, both for the initial acquisition as well as retention of skills. This superiority occurred for questions measuring understanding of fractions but not for ruler skills, indicating that students were able to use procedural knowledge to infer conceptual knowledge. Results are discussed in terms of several models of learning that address how declarative, conceptual, and procedural knowledge interact in the learning process.     

Levels of Cognitive Functioning as Related to Anxiety

The relationships between levels of cognitive functioning as suggested by the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I and states of affective arousal as measured by Text Anxiety (the main variable of interest), General Anxiety, and Need for Achievement were investigated. Two separate samples were used: (1) 234 university students, and (2) 319 junior and senior class high school students.

For the university sample significant negative correlations between Text Anxiety and Knowledge (recall of specific facts) and Test Anxiety and Comprehension were found. For the high school sample the negative correlation between Test Anxiety and Comprehension was significant. No significant relations between Test Anxiety and higher levels of cognitive performance were found. The results are discussed in terms of interfering effects to task performance that Test Anxiety may produce when the examinee is given no information to “workwith” and must rely essentially on memory.     

Student Teaching in Disadvantaged Areas—Some Special Considerations

A large percentage of our teachers begin their careers in disadvantaged schools and are ill-equipped to cope with the problems that confront them. Dr. Sciara recommends a special program for such teachers, but, as an alternative, suggests some specific experiences which can be provided in a general student teaching situation to prepare the student teacher for service in a disadvantaged area.     

Descriptions of new books

A DICTIONARY OF SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND THERAPY by S. D. Robbins, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Emerson College, formerly President of the American Speech and Hearing Association and for twenty years Chairman of its Nomenclature Committee ... Limited Edition. Attractive stiff paperbound edition, $1.90 postpaid ... Library Text Edition, $2.95 postpaid... Sci‐Art Publishers, Harvard Square, Cambridge 38, Mass.

RADIO CLASSICS, adapted by Norman A. Bailey, Romulus Linney, and Dominik Cascio. Copyright 1956, 169 pages, 8½ × 11, mimeoprint, spiral bound. Price open. Burgess Publishing Company.

THE ABC's OF PLAY PRODUCING by Howard Bailey... 1955. 276 pages, $3.50... David McKay Company, Inc.

NTRODUCTION TO OPERA: A Guidebook Sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Edited by Mary Ellis Peltz with an Annotated List of Recordings by C. J. Luten … 332 pages … 51/8 × 81/8… $1.65 (Paperbound Everyday Handbook) ... Barnes & Noble, Inc.

SPEAK CORRECTLY by Lillian Haut, Speech teacher, New York City Schools... 56 pages, soft cover. 5½ × 8½. $1.50 … Speech Handbooks, 105 West 72nd St., New York 23, N. Y.

BUSINESS SPEAKING by James F. Clyne, Charles A. Dwyer, Edward J. Kilduff, Ralph M. Zink, all of the school of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance, New York University ... 246 pages, 10 illus., $3.75, Oxford University Press, Inc. (to be published Fall, 1956.

BASIC PUBLIC SPEAKING by Paul L. Soper, Professor of English and Speech... Chairman of the Speech Staff, University of Tennessee... New second edition. 400 pages. 12 photographs. $3.85 (college ed.) ...Oxford University Press, Inc. (March, 1956)

THE ROAD TO PERSUASION by William Muehl, Associate Professor of Public Speaking, Yale University … 282 pages, $3.95 … Oxford University Press, Inc. (Published September, 1956)

DISCUSSION by William S. Howell, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Speech and Theatre Arts, University of Minnesota, and Donald K. Smith, Associate Professor of Speech and Theatre Arts, University of Minnesota... 1956, 292 pages, 5¾ × 82½, $4.00 … The Macmillan Company.

COMMUNICATIVE READING, by Otis J. Aggertt, Associate Professor of Speech, Albion College, and Elbert R. Bowen, Professor of Speech and Drama, Central Michigan College … 1956, 480 pages, 5¾× 8½, $4.25 … The Macmillan Company.

SPEECH CORRECTION IN THE SCHOOLS, by Jon Eisenson, Professor of Speech and Director of Speech and Hearing Clinic, Queens College, and Mardel Ogilvie, Assistant Professor of Speech, Queens College ... Published in November ... The Macmillan Company.

LANGUAGE: A MODERN SYNTHESIS, by Joshua Whatmough, Professor of Comparative Philology and Chairman of the Department of Linguistics at Harvard University. With Appendixes, Glossary, Index; illustrated with diagrams, spectrogram, and map. Pp. ix+270. 1956. $4.75. St. Martin's Press, Inc., 103 Park Avenue, New York 17, New York.