ASSESSING KNOWLEDGE OF CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES

Several item-types which may be used to test for the acquisition of subject-matter concepts and principles are described. Each item-type is discussed in terms of its ability to tap more than reproductive capabilities. Research hypotheses deducible from the item-types are presented and discussed.     

Physical Dimensions of Counseling: Perspective for the Helping Professions

Fifteen graduate students in the helping professions registered in a course that teaches helpers to use physical fitness as a counseling medium. The enrolled graduate students were matched with controls in four relevant areas, and both groups were pretested on 7 physiological and 11 psychological variables. The experimental students were given a 10-week treatment of physical fitness training, counseling in health habits, a life-style of well-being, and instruction in how to deliver these kinds of treatments to clients. For eight weeks the students used the skills in working with real clients. The experimental and control groups were posttested on the same variables; and multivariate and univariate analyses revealed significantly positive changes made by the experimental group. This article reports implications for graduate programs in the helping professions.     

SELECTION OF PROSE MATERIAL FOR TESTING

The study investigated teachers' selection of prose material for testing. Thirty elementary school social studies teachers wrote test questions based on a 1900 word passage from a commercial social studies text. Moderate consensus was observed among the teachers as to those segments of the passage chosen for testing. Additional analyses to determine the characteristics of the passage segments selected for testing were performed. The most frequently selected text segments were sentences which either contained a list or were themselves an entry in a list.