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This paper reports on a study of a structured active learning approach to an analytical chemistry course. The purpose of the study was to assess the longitudinal outcomes of this approach and to provide feedback to curriculum developers about the effects of the changes being made in the chemistry curriculum. The data, collected from a cohort of students in 1995, consists of open-ended interviews with students, open-ended student survey questions, Likert scale student survey items, and faculty and teaching assistant interviews. The results indicate that there is a number of longitudinal effects of structured active learning and although it is possible to assert that the comparison group does not report the kinds of learning outcomes that the structured active learning students report, further study is needed to be sure that the findings are reliable. Contains 11 references. (DDR)

This paper reports on a unique assessment of a structured active learning approach to a freshman chemistry course. Faculty members (N=25) from 11 departments outside the chemistry department served as assessors interviewing approximately 200 students from the experimental and a comparison version of the course. The experimental section of the course, characterized by a structured active learning approach, includes specific strategies such as an absolute grading scale, open-ended laboratory projects, and a variety of interactive lecture techniques. Two specific conclusions can be drawn from this study: (1) there are a number of longitudinal effects of structured active learning; and (2) although it is possible to assert that the comparison group does not report the kinds of learning outcomes that the structured active learning students report, further study is needed to be sure that the findings are reliable. (DDR)

Describes the evolution of a primary, community-based drug prevention program and the challenges associated with becoming established within a particular community. Addresses the use of consortium to implement program goals and objectives; parental involvement and home visitation; developing and maintaining a positive relationship with the host organization; developing a curriculum for effective execution of program interventions; and the evaluation process. (Contains 27 references.) (GCP)

Children's attention to and comprehension of television programs were studied by comparing the effects of viewing continuous stories (i.e., those with meaningful plots brought to resolution) and magazine-format programs containing unrelated bits of entertainment. Effects of program pacing were also studied. Multiple programs, differing in content, were developed for each of four design cells (high/low pace by high/low continuity). Participants were 160 children divided into two age groups (kindergarten/first and third/fourth grades). Visual fixation of the television monitor was recorded during viewing of two programs in same-sex pairs, and children were then tested individually for comprehension and recall of both programs, using a non-verbal procedure requiring the child to order five still photographs from the program and five from a single segment. Control scores were obtained by having children order photos from one program which they had not viewed. Results indicated that the integrated stories can be effectively used to promote both attention and comprehension at an early age, because children clearly responded to and used the organizational structure provided by television stories even when the stories were low pace. Twelve references, and tables showing study design and attention and comprehension data are included. (LMM)

This study investigated two methods for establishing a systematic, selective, attending strategy in a memory task for children. One method was direct training of a specific strategy, employing instructions, fading, modeling, and prompts to direct the child's attention to the relevant features and to organize systematic looking behavior. The second method involved the design of the stimuli, making relevant features perceptually more (or less) salient. Observing behavior and short-term recognition were studied. Sixty 3 1/2-to-5 1/2-year-old children matched pictures from memory with either strategy training for systematic scanning or placebo practice followed by transfer. One-third of the subjects in each condition saw stimuli with relevant portions made perceptually salient, another third with irrelevant portions salient, and the rest with no portions salient. Strategy training enhanced systematic relevant observing behavior and facilitated recognition in both training and transfer. Stimulus saliency, when irrelevant, interfered in training for placebo subjects. Saliency directly influenced looking behavior only for young subjects in the early part of each trial. (Author/SB)

Examined whether children's schemata for occupations they observe in real life differ from schemata for occupations portrayed on television. Found that children do form separate schemata for television and real life. Compared to subjects' schemata of real life occupations, those for television versions entailed more glamour, higher income, more stereotypes, and more dramatic events without negative consequences. (HTH)

Five and seven year olds were able to correctly distinguish between factual and fictional television programs and test clips, based upon genre of program, production features, content. Age and vocabulary scores predicted accuracy of factuality judgments, but television viewing history did not. Older children understood better than younger ones that fictional characters do not retain roles in real life. (MDM)

This report evaluating the Kansas Reflection-Impulsivity Scale for Preschoolers (KRISP), developed as an easier task version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test for school-age children, presents an analysis of data on 1,408 children of widely varying backgrounds. Eighteen samples of children, ranging in age from 2 years and 5 months to 6 years and 8 months, were studied by investigators in the United States, England and Australia. The KRISP consists of 5 practice items and 10 test items on each of 2 forms. Each item presents a standard line drawing of a common object, together with 4 to 6 similar alternatives, only one of which is an exact duplicate of the standard figure. The child is asked to indicate the duplicate, and latency to first response and number of errors are recorded. For purposes of normative analysis, subjects were grouped according to four age intervals. Results are presented on age, sex and other effects, on test-retest reliability, inter-form agreement, validity, normative analysis, sample differences and demographic characteristics related to cognitive style. The report concludes with a discussion of results, examining the speed-accuracy trade-off and choice of strategy, and cognitive development and practice-familiarity. Although the KRISP is seen as a useful research tool, its use for clinical or educational diagnostic purposes with individual children is not recommended in the absence of additional evidence of validity. (BF)

A conceptual model of how children process televised information was developed with the goal of identifying those parameters of the process that are both measurable and manipulable in research settings. The model presented accommodates the nature of information processing both by the child and by the presentation by the medium. Presentation is classified into two categories: simultaneous, where all stimuli or items of information are available at the same time; and successive, where the rapid stream of events is organized in its own sequence and does not repeat itself. Two modes are discussed: exploration and search processing. In the exploration mode, the child becomes familiar with the material by devoting attention to whatever is most physically salient or inherently attention getting. In search behavior, the child tries to comprehend the message by actively imposing an order of processing on simultaneous arrays. Similarity of age and viewing experience, and effects of the viewing environment are also discussed. Twenty-one references are cited. (JEG)