PROGRAMS OF STUDY AS A BASIS FOR SELECTION, PLACEMENT AND GUIDANCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

Studies of collegiate success and attrition are generally conducted at the all-college level. The definition of academic programs that are homogeneous in the abilities and interests of their students and the grading standards of their faculties may lead to more accurate prediction of success and more effective control of attrition.
Homogeneous curricular groups were defined via Ward's hierarchical grouping analysis applied to curricular means on high school percentile rank, four ACT subscores, first semester GPA, and 16 Kuder scores. Programs so defined differed on scientific-verbal and competitive level dimensions. Prediction of grades was more accurate within programs than colleges. Drop and transfer rates were correlated with discriminant scores.
The programs are discussed as promising units within which differential selection and placement strategies might reduce attrition.     

A Comprehensive Approach to Human Relations Training for Teachers

This article develops a comprehensive approach to human relations training (HRT) for teachers based on knowledge of student diversity and application of communication skills. The author treats HRT as more than just training in communication skills and develops a model that integrates the two major components of HRT. He also develops specific goals, skills, and attitudes capable of being fitted into a teaching paradigm.     

THE INFLUENCE OF TEST TITLE ON TEST RESPONSE

This study was designed to determine the extent to which responses to test items of the type frequently found in personality inventories would be influenced by the title associated with the test. The basic hypothesis was that subjects respond to the test title by developing a particular response set which will be reflected in the individual responses. An instrument was constructed and administered to eight treatment groups. Each administration differed primarily in the title each group's tests bore. The dependent variables were measures of the tendency to lie, respond defensively, answer carefully, and complete questions. Subjects tended to lie and respond more defensively to titled tests than to a test having no title and administered under nonthreatening conditions. All other comparisons were not statistically significant.     

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.     

Wellbeing and Education: Issues of Culture and Authority

The idea that education should equip people to lead flourishing lives and help others to do so is now becoming salient in policy-making circles. Philosophy of education can help here by clarifying what flourishing consists in. This essay examines one aspect of this. It rejects the view that wellbeing goods are derivable from human nature, as in the theories of Howard Gardner and Edmond Holmes. It locates them, rather, as cultural products, but not culturally-relative ones, drawing attention to the proliferating forms they have taken over the past three or four centuries. It looks to aesthetics and art criticism as a guide to a philosophical treatment of wellbeing goods more generally. It also takes off from aesthetics and art criticism in seeking to identify reliable authorities on the flourishing life. On this, it rejects elitist conceptions in favour of a more democratic model, emphasising its importance in education for citizenship.     

From Constructionism to Deconstructionism: Anticipating Trends in Educational Styles

This paper reviews various issues concerned with the design of computer-based learning (CBL) systems and the educational philosophies from which they are derived. It considers them from the point of view of four themes of contemporary thinking: rational, pragmatic, critical and radical. In particular, the paper considers the current enthusiasm for constructionist learning and teaching methods and how these may evolve in the light of recent research. It is seen that many of the current trends in CBL system design can be related to post-modern ideas about the role of technology in society.     

Why Minimally Guided Teaching Techniques Do Not Work: A Reply to Commentaries

Knowledge, although seemingly available, is often not used for problem solving. That means it remains "inert." Three types of explanations exist for this phenomenon. Metaprocess explanations assume that the relevant knowledge is available, but it is not used because of disturbed access processes (e.g., lacking metacognitive control). Structure deficit explanations suppose that the deficit is rooted in the structure of the knowledge itself (i.e., the knowledge is not available in a form that allows for its application). In situatedness explanations, the traditional concepts of knowledge and transfer are questioned. One basic assumption of this perspective is that knowledge is fundamentally situated (i.e., context-bound). In the last decade, instructional models have been developed that try to remedy the inert knowledge problem and take into account important aspects that have been raised by the different explanations.