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This study was conducted to describe a teacher developed high school engineering course, to identify teaching strategies used in the process of delivering math and science literacy through this course, to identify challenges and constraints that occurred during its development and delivery, and to describe the strategies that were used to overcome those obstacles. A case study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with the engineering instructor at Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. In addition, the researcher conducted classroom observations and reviewed instructional materials, teacher lesson plans, and teacher journals. Themes that developed regarding the strategies used to deliver this particular course identified that concepts created its platform for delivery, curricular trial and error was at work, science and engineering competitions were leveraged as a basis for learning activities, project based learning and teaching were employed, there was a clear emphasis on creative thought and work, and the teacher served as a guide rather than the sole "sage". Themes developed regarding the identification of challenges and constraints that occurred during the development and delivery of this engineering course were assessment of student learning was dubious and elusive and stakeholders tended to be uneasy with this new pedagogy. Lastly, themes developed regarding the strategies used to overcome these obstacles identified financial and instructional support through business partnership and administrative support as being critical. Appended are: (1) Consent to Participate In UW-Stout Approved Research; and (2) Modules. (Contains 1 figure.)

The principal aims of this study, a conceptual replication of an earlier investigation of the TOEFL[R] computer-based test, or TOEFL CBT, in Buenos Aires, Cairo, and Frankfurt, were to assess test takers' reported acceptance of the TOEFL Internet-based test, or TOEFL iBT[TM], and its associations with possible determinants of this acceptance and with test performance; evaluate differences in the pattern of results for test takers from different countries; and compare the findings with those for the TOEFL CBT. A questionnaire concerning attitudes about the test and other relevant variables was administered by the Internet to TOEFL iBT examinees in 4 diverse countries with large testing volumes: China, Colombia, Egypt, and Germany. Overall attitudes about the TOEFL iBT were moderately positive in most countries, but neutral in Germany; attitudes about the Listening and Writing sections of the test were uniformly favorable in every country; but attitudes about the Speaking section were consistently less favorable in all countries and were unfavorable in Germany and Colombia. Attitudes about the test had similar patterns of relationships in the 4 countries: moderate correlations with attitudes about admissions tests in general, slight and inconsistent correlations with TOEFL performance and computer anxiety, and minimal correlations with other variables. All in all, these results were very similar to those in the earlier investigation, with 1 exception: the previous study found uniformly moderate positive attitudes about the TOEFL CBT in the 3 countries surveyed. (Contains 7 tables.)

This study explored individual differences in educational disadvantage-- deficits in formal and informal education in the school, home, and elsewhere--in the SAT test-taking population. Factor analysis identified six educational disadvantage factors--four concerning the students' schools and two the students' nativity and parenting--and one family socioeconomic status factor, race/ethnicity, high school grades, and SAT scores. The individual-differences perspective on disadvantage appears to be a viable one, and educational disadvantage seems to be a meaningful and useful construct. The following are appended: (1) Letters; and (2) Questionnaire.

Laboratory experiments by Steele and Aronson (1995) found that African-American subjects' performance on difficult verbal items, described as a verbal problem-solving task, was adversely affected when they were asked about their ethnicity just before working on the items. These results were attributed to stereotype threat. Asking about ethnicity primes African-American subjects' concerns about fulfilling the negative ethnic stereotype about their intellectual ability, thereby disrupting test performance. The present field experiment assessed the effects of asking community college students taking the Computerized Placement Tests (CPTs), in an actual operating setting, about their ethnicity and sex. This inquiry had no statistically and practically significant effects on how well the examinees did on the tests or how long they worked on the tests

Steele and Aronson (1995) found that the performance of African-American subjects on test items portrayed as a problem-solving task, in a laboratory experiment, was adversely affected when they were asked about their ethnicity. This outcome was attributed to "stereotype threat". Performance was disrupted by the subjects' concerns about fulfilling the negative stereotype concerning African Americans' intellectual ability. Extending that research, this field experiment evaluated the effects of inquiring about ethnicity and sex on the performance of examinees taking the Advanced Placement Program Calculus AB Examination in an actual test administration. With a minor exception, this inquiry had no statistically and practically significant effects on the test performance of African-American, female, or other subgroups of examinees. Answer sheets are appended.

This study examined three questions about measures of accomplishments--notable attainments that have been publicly recognized: their pseudoipsativity, the correspondence between quantity and quality scores, and their dimensionality. Comparable samples of graduate students described their accomplishments on a questionnaire or judged the similarity of the same accomplishments. Sample 1 consisted of 204 first-year graduate students, and sample 2 consisted of 75 students from four colleges. The Accomplishments Questionnaire consisted of 52 items in 6 areas. Accomplishments in the same field were positively correlated, while accomplishments in different fields varied in their correlations, some being positive and others being negative; these results are inconsistent with the predominantly negative correlations that would occur with ipsative measures. Measures of the quantity and quality (importance, rarity) of accomplishments correlated highly, after correction for attenuation, and appeared to assess the same thing. Analyses of self-report data found that accomplishments were factorially complex, with many of the same factors identified in other kinds of measures appearing. The factors observed in the judgment data largely corresponded to the semantic features of the accomplishment items (Contains 4 tables and 25 references.) (Author/SLD)

This study appraised the validity of SAT scores, in combination with grades in high school courses and the number and difficulty level of these courses, in predicting college grades in various fields of study, with the objective of providing SAT takers with predictions of their academic performance in different fields for guidance purposes. The possible impact of this feedback on the flow of students into specific major fields was also assessed. Data on an entering class at a large state university provided the basis for the study. The SAT and collateral variables were able to predict college grades in different academic areas by taking into account marked variations in grade distributions among fields of study. These predictions could be potentially useful in academic guidance. Students' predicted grades in the various fields and their intended majors were unrelated. Most students received their highest predicted grades in the humanities, although few intended to major in this area. Hence, such feedback would probably stimulate students to take courses or major in the humanities. Table A-1--Standardized Regression Coefficients for Predicting Actual and Imputed GPAs for Three Fields of Study--is appended.

The relationships between examinee background characteristics and performance on the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test were appraised by a structural equation modeling analysis. The initial characteristics of 3,145 examinees (i.e., sex, ethnicity, parental education, geographic region, and age) had modest relationships with their test performance. Of these, parental education had the most consistent and strongest association. Sex also had an appreciable association, but it was limited to the quantitative score. College-related characteristics (e.g., college major and the institution's public vs. private control, Carnegie classification, selectivity, and Ph.D. productivity) and undergraduate grade point average (GPA) generally had stronger and more pervasive relationships with test performance than did the examinees' initial characteristics, not only by mediating the associations of the examinees' initial characteristics with test performance but also by making independent contributions in their own right. The associations were especially strong for school quality (e.g., a composite of public vs. private control, selectivity, and Ph.D. productivity), college major, and undergraduate GPA. Five tables and three figures illustrate the analysis. (Contains 38 references.) (Author/SLD)

This study compared the effectiveness of several existing and proposed methods for statistically adjusting college grade point averages (GPAs) for course and departmental differences in grading standards, using first-semester grades from an entire entering class at a large state university (4,351 students), in 1988. Most of the adjusted GPAs produced by these methods functioned similarly and, despite high correlations with actual GPA, had greater internal-consistency reliability than actual GPA and were more predictable from Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school rank (HSR). Most of the adjusted GPAs also functioned similarly with regard to sex differences in over-underprediction. The adjusted GPAs and actual GPAs exhibited the same small but significant sex differences in over-underprediction by SAT scores, but the adjusted GPAs displayed smaller differences than actual GPAs in over-underprediction by SAT scores and HSR. Seven tables present analysis results. (Contains 44 references.) (Author/SLD)

The usefulness of response latency data for biographical inventory items was assessed for improving the inventory's validity. Focus was on assessing whether weighting item scores on the basis of their latencies improves the predictive validity of the inventory's total score. A total of 120 items from the Armed Services Applicant Profile (ASAP) were administered via computers to 1,090 male Navy recruits at the Recruit Training Center in San Diego (California); the regular score, latency-weighted scores, and measures of deviant latencies were obtained. The latency-weighted scores did not improve the ASAP's validity in predicting 6-month retention beyond that obtained with the regular score; the deviant latency measures did not function as suppressor or moderator variables to increase the ASAP's validity. Subgroups of items with differing latencies varied systematically in their internal-consistency reliability (with increased reliability for subgroups with shorter latencies), and a small subgroup of items with moderate latencies was almost as valid as the regular score, suggesting that latency data may be useful in writing and selecting inventory items. Five tables and four graphs complement the study. A 34-item list of references is included. (Author/SLD)

The aim of this study was to appraise whether different forms of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) used since the mid 1970s varied in their correlations with academic performance criteria in the same cohort of examinees. A 1975 form and a 1985 form were administered to equivalent samples of high school juniors, and self-reported grade-point average and high school rank were obtained. The SAT Verbal and Mathematical scores generally had similar correlations with the grade criteria in the two samples, but the Verbal score had a significantly higher correlation with school rank in the 1985 sample. The principal conclusion is that the 1975 form of the SAT does not have greater validity than the 1985 form in assessing academic performance, at least at the high school level. This outcome offers no support for the hypothesis that the decline in the SAT's ability to predict college grades since the mid 1970s, observed in recent research, is attributable to changes in the test. Three tables present analysis details. (Contains seven references.) (Author)

The Mars 2020 Rover will have the capability to collect and cache samples for potential Mars sample return. Specifically, the sample caching system (SCS) is designed for coring Mars samples and acquiring regolith samples as well as handling, sealing and caching on Mars. As the potential first Martian samples that could be returned to Earth, assuring low levels of terrestrial contamination is of the utmost concern. In developing the SCS, the project prioritizes limiting sample contamination in organic, inorganic and biological areas. The focus of this paper is on the strategies being implemented to clean the assemble the sampling hardware to meet and maintain stringent contamination requirements.

The Mars 2020 Rover mission will have the capability to collect and cache samples for potential Mars sample return. Specifically, the sample caching system (SCS) is designed for coring Mars samples and acquiring regolith samples as well as handling, sealing and caching on Mars. As the potential first Martian samples that could be returned to Earth, assuring low levels of terrestrial contamination is of the utmost concern. In developing the SCS, the project prioritizes limiting sample contamination in organic, inorganic and biological areas. The focus of this paper is on the strategies being implemented to limit terrestrial organic and inorganic contamination in the samples.

The Mars 2020 mission will land a rover on the surface of Mars that will acquire, encapsulate, and cache scientifically selected samples of martian material for possible return to Earth by a future mission. The samples will be individually encapsulated and sealed in sample tubes. Each sample, and therefore each sample tube, must be kept clean of viable organisms with a terrestrial origin, which may adhere to the rover on their own and/or on other non-biological particles. Therefore, contrary to previous missions to the Red Planet, Mars 2020 is subject to new and more stringent biological, organic and inorganic contamination requirements. This paper reports on the analyses and testing performed to assess the various vectors that can lead to the terrestrial-borne contamination of the samples, focusing on those that are predicted to be the larger contributors. Specifically, the contamination of the sample tubes is expected to be very small prior to the commencement of the mission’s science phase since these tubes are protected by so-called Fluid Mechanical Particle Barriers. Once on the surface of Mars however the sample tubes will be removed from their FMPBs and be subject to contamination from the rover. Of specific interest is the vector by which winds dislodge some particles from the surface of the rover and transport them to the surrounding soil. Naturally, such assessments require multi-disciplinary analyses involving at minimum the physics of particle adhesion and resuspension from surfaces, fluid mechanics and aerosols. Here we provide an overview of these models. We also report on particle resuspension experiments we have performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to both guide and validate the aforementioned physics models.

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NASA has developed requirements dedicated to the prevention of forward and backward contamination during space exploration. Historically, international agreements provided guidelines to prevent contamination of the Moon and other celestial bodies, as well as the Earth (e.g., sample return missions). The UN Outer Space Treaty was established in 1967 and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) maintains a planetary protection policy complying with Article IX of this treaty. By avoiding forward contamination, the integrity of scientific exploration is preserved. Planetary Protection mission requirements are levied on missions to control contamination. These requirements are dependent on the science of the mission and on the celestial bodies encountered or targeted along the way. Consequently, categories are assigned to missions, and specific implementation plans are developed to meet the planetary protection requirements. NASA missions have evolved over time with increasingly more demanding scientific objectives and more complex flight systems to achieve those objectives and, thus, planetary protection methods and processes used for implementation have become much more intricate, complicated, and challenging. Here, we will portray the evolution of planetary protection implementation at JPL in several important areas throughout the course of NASA sponsored robotic Mars lander or rover missions, starting from Mars Pathfinder through the beginning of Mars 2020. Highlighted in the discussion will be process changes in planetary protection requirements development and flow down. Development and implementation of new and improved methods used in the reduction of spacecraft bioburden will be discussed as well as approaches and challenges that come along with setting up remote laboratories to perform bioassays. The consequences and forward planning of delays on missions will be highlighted as well as lessons learned on the impact of communication and training in achieving planetary protection requirements. The evolution of methods used for the detection of microbial bioburden on spacecraft hardware will be considered. These methods use standard microbiology as well as the adaptation of advances in biotechnology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Technical approaches developed for the prevention of contamination and recontamination of hardware during Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations will be discussed.

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This paper examines the use of the peer review system in evaluating out-patient clinical services for a third-party payer seeking justification for payment of services. Peer review is defined as a process by which one professional, in an official capacity, makes a judgment about a co-professional in a matter involving professional functioning. The contracts between psychologists and psychiatrists and CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services), a health benefit program for retired military personnel and military dependents, are discussed. The review process is followed from the third-party payer request for an evaluation to disposition of the case. Similarities between the review systems implemented for CHAMPUS and the private insurance companies are reviewed, and the selection of reviewers is discussed. Criticisms of the project are noted, particularly regulations directed against the third-party payer, the mechanics of implementation of the system, accountability issues, and specific review criteria. Responses to these criticisms are cited, including criteria modifications, additional research, and a review of recommendations from the CHAMPUS National Advisory Panel. (JAC)

A study examined the relationship of native language and level of English proficiency to the structure of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Using all of the information provided by various responses to the test's items (the four alternatives, omitted, and not reached), the items' interrelations were analyzed by three-way multidimensional scaling for samples of examinees systematically varying in native language and level of English proficiency. Four dimensions were identified: three corresponded to the sections of the test, and the fourth was an end-of-test phenomenon. The dimensions were predominantly defined by easy items and were most salient for low-scoring examinees. Native language had little influence on results. The major conclusions were that the TOEFL's construct validity is supported, the test's interpretation varies with the examinees' English proficiency, easy and difficult items differ in their potential for diagnosis and global screening, and the dimensionality of the TOEFL and of competence in English depends on the examinees' English proficiency. (Author/MSE)

The aim of this study was to construct and validate a biographical inventory to measure personality traits that are predictive of leadership. The experimental inventory, consisting of tentative scales for Dominance, Emotional Stability, Need for Achievement, Self-Confidence, and Sociability, was administered to 642 incoming midshipmen at the Naval Academy. The tentative scales were item analyzed, and the validity of the final scales was appraised against subsequent peer ratings of the traits and of leadership, as well as against first-semester grades that may reflect leadership (Military Performance and Professional Military Quality Point Rating). The Sociability, Dominance, and Need for Achievement scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity and correlated with the leadership criteria; the Emotional Stability and Self-Confidence scales showed no signs of validity. Although the level of validity was often modest, the Sociability scale correlated appreciably (0.28) with the peer rating of leadership, suggesting that this measure may have practical value in assessing leadership potential. (Contains 1 figure, 15 tables, and 16 references.) (Author/SLD)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a Jungian-oriented self-report inventory which classifies people into dichotomous categories along four scales: extraversion-introversion, sensation-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judgment-perception. Introduced in 1942, the scoring and items have changed after several items analyses. Form F contains 51 phrase questions and 44 word pairs. A critical review of reliability and validity studies raises four issues to consider when evaluating the Indicator: (1) correspondence between Jung and Myers typology; (2) adherence to Myers' typology; (3) predictive validity; and (4) uniqueness. Myers has a different concept of the extroversion-introversion and judging-perceiving scales, but the scales do not reflect this concept. The Indicator generally does not reflect Myers' typology: classifications do not appear unchanging, interacting, or associated with different compounds of surface traits; in addition, type indeterminacy is unrelated to ineffective behavior and maladjustment. The Indicator may be useful for grade prediction in liberal arts schools, but its ability to identify vocational interest and creativity is limited. Finally, only the thinking-feeling scale is unique among existing scales; but factor analysis may uncover other unique properties. Norms are presented for high school, college, and graduate students; recently employed college graduates; and public school teachers. (CP)

Young and middle-age adult college students (n=241) completed an attitude scale indicating that age is associated with their knowledge of elderly sexuality. Contact and closeness with grandparents predicted more favorable attitudes toward elderly sexuality. For young adults without grandparent contact, the relationship between knowledge and attitude was not significant. (SK)

The usefulness of Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores in combination with grades in high school courses and the number and quality of these courses in predicting college grades in various fields was studied for 981 college freshmen. The SAT and collateral variables were able to predict grades in different areas and could be useful in guidance. (SLD)

Factor analysis of scores of 458 college students on the Aging Sexuality Knowledge and Attitude Scale revealed a two-factor structure. Religious affiliation and ethnicity uniquely predicted permissive/restrictive attitudes. Death anxiety and salience of elderly sexuality uniquely predicted empathic/indifferent attitudes. Students of different ages had different attitudes. (SK)

The relations between examinee background characteristics and performance on the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test were studied through structural equation modeling for 3,145 examinees. Findings regarding examinee characteristics underscore the importance of socioeconomic status and intervening process variables in research on group differences in performance on cognitive tests. (SLD)

Presents critical review of literature regarding individuals' knowledge and their attitudes toward elderly sexuality. Notes generally positive relationship discovered between various age cohorts' depth of knowledge and their permissiveness of attitudes. Also notes that some health care providers demonstrated negative relationship between their knowledge and attitudes. (Author/NB)

The 1954 article by Eliot Stellar provided the theoretical focus for a great deal of research on the biological bases of human behavior. Future attention to the infrastructure of behaviors being studied, combined with reductionistic studies of neurons, will fulfill the potential contribution to behavioral neuroscience implicit in Stellar's article. (SLD)

The aim of this study was to delineate departmental differences in the length of time that doctoral students take to receive their degrees and the institutional characteristics linked with it, being as comprehensive as possible in the institutional characteristics examined and disentangling the confounding effects of student characteristics. Variables describing graduate departments in three disciplines and their parent universities were obtained from 86 departments of Chemistry, 57 departments of English, and 62 departments of Psychology. In analyses of departments in each discipline, a relatively small set of institutional variables correlated with average time to the doctorate for each department, after controlling for characteristics of students in the department, and these relationships differed from discipline to discipline. The clearest and most extensive findings emerged for Psychology: the institutional variables identified primarily concerned faculty accessibility (student/faculty ratio and department size), with longer time required in departments with many students per faculty member or with many students. Student characteristics accounted for about half of the departmental variation in time in each discipline. An appendix contains four tables describing departmental characteristics. (Contains 6 tables, 17 figures, and 40 references.) (Author/SLD)

The role played by sex-related differences in prediction of grades from Scholastic Aptitude Test scores with regard to the grade criterion and the variables associated with academic performance was studied for an entire university first-year class (4,351 students). Sources of underprediction for women are discussed. (SLD)

This study examined the role that sex-related differences in the nature of the grade criterion and in variables associated with academic performance play in the over- and under-prediction of college grades by the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) both when the test is used alone and in conjunction with high school grades. An entire freshman class (4,351 students) at a large state university was studied. Women's grade point average (GPA) was underpredicted, but only by a small amount. Adjusting the GPA for differences in grading standards for individual courses did not affect the underprediction, but controlling for sex differences in individual-difference variables concerned with academic preparation, studiousness, and attitudes about mathematics reduced or essentially eliminated the underprediction. Eight figures and 22 tables present results of the analysis. Two appendixes contain classifications and scores, and the study questionnaires. (Author/SLD)

The wearable environmental and physiological sensing unit (WEPS) is a prototype of systems to be worn by emergency workers (e.g., firefighters and members of hazardous-material response teams) to increase their level of safety. The WEPS includes sensors that measure a few key physiological and environmental parameters, a microcontroller unit that processes the digitized outputs of the sensors, and a radio transmitter that sends the processed sensor signals to a computer in a mobile command center for monitoring by a supervisor. The monitored parameters serve as real-time indications of the wearer s physical condition and level of activity, and of the degree and type of danger posed by the wearer s environment. The supervisor could use these indications to determine, for example, whether the wearer should withdraw in the face of an increasing hazard or whether the wearer should be rescued.

We describe the status of a microwave cavity clock experiment to perform improved tests of Local Position Invariance and Lorentz Invariance on the International Space Station in conjunction with atomic clocks. Significant improvements over present bounds are expected in both cases. The oscillators can also be used to enhance the performance of atomic clocks at short time scales for other experiments.

We describe the preliminary results from an experiment to measure the heat capacity of helium confined within a stack of evenly spaced silicon plates at temperatures very close to the superfluid transition. The resolution of the heat capacity measurements was generally about 5x10 (exp -9)K, allowing the finite size peak to be mapped in detail. In addition, wide range data containing information on the behavior of the surface specific heat was collected. The preliminary analysis shows fair agreement with theory, but some discrepancies. The results can also be combined with related ground measurements on smaller length scales to perform additional tests of scaling predictions for cross-over to lower dimensional behavior. Some results in this area are also presented.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of disclosing a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) form on the retest performance of examinees who initially had been tested with the disclosed form and subsequently retested with a different form. Retest performance was compared for three random samples of examinees who had been tested with the SAT as high school juniors in the May 1981 administration in New York and then retested with it in the October 1981 administration: the standard set of disclosed material for the May SAT was sent to two experimental groups, along with either a noncommittal or an encouraging letter intended to vary their motivation to use the material; nothing was sent to the control group. The three groups were generally similar in the level, stability, and concurrent validity of their October scores, indicating that access to the disclosed material had no appreciable effects on retest performance. The absence of differences for the two experimental groups and for subgroups within them that would have been most apt to use the material suggests that use of the material had no discernible effect either. (Author)

A review of the literature regarding computer literacy reveals that schools have much to do to meet their obligation in helping develop a computer literate citizenry. A comprehensive computer literacy instructional program should include the components of awareness, acquisition of skills, and the ability to apply computer knowledge and skill in problem-solving situations. The numerous social issues related to computer technology place a major responsibility on the social studies curriculum of the schools. An examination of elementary, secondary, and college commercial social studies textbooks reveals, with very few exceptions, an absence of discussion of computer technology as a topic to be studied. There is a need to infuse computer technology throughout the social studies curriculum. Social studies programs, to be more relevant, should involve students in using software and in using computers to process data for decision making and problem solving. (RM)