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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between working memory and text coherence in Chinese text comprehension. Eighty-six participants completed an operation-character working memory span task to be classified into low-span and high-span readers and a reading task to measure the time to detect inconsistency as well as the accuracy of recall. From the results, high-span readers took less time to detect inconsistency and had better recall, whereas low-span readers took longer time to detect inconsistency and had more memory distortions. In addition, readers took more time to read passages with coherence breaks and distorted more and substituted more information in passages with coherence breaks. However, coherence breaks did not facilitate their recall as has been suggested by previous studies.

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate effectively; think creatively, solve problems, and make decisions; and interact with each other and the technologies in the workplace. Vocational-technical programs must also adopt these practices in order to provide graduates who can enter and advance in the changing work world. The curriculum framework in this document reflects these changes in the workplace and a number of other factors that impact on local vocational-technical programs. Diagnostic Medical Sonography uses high frequency sound waves to produce images of organs, masses, fluid collections, and vascular structures within the human body. Sonography is user-dependent, requiring competent and highly skilled professionals to be a part of the integral health care system. Sonographers have extensive, direct patient contact, providing care to a variety of people from healthy to critically ill. The sonographer is responsible for obtaining pertinent patient history, performing the sonographic examination, providing for the needs and comfort of the patient during examination, and recording anatomy and pathology or other data for interpretation by the supervising physician to aid in diagnosis. Sonography is commonly used in the field of obstetrics and gynecology for purposes ranging from confirming and/or dating pregnancies to diagnosing disease processes of the female reproductive system. Sonographers must have knowledge of normal structure and functional anatomy of the human body and use independent judgment in recognizing the need to perform procedures according to sonographic findings. Upon completion of the two-year program of study, the student will be awarded the Associate of Applied Science degree. Until a Diagnostic Medical Sonography program reaches accreditation approval from CAAHEP, the students must meet the following criteria in order to apply to sit for the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers: (1) Be a graduate from a two-year allied health program that is patient care related which includes but is not limited to Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Registered Nurse, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy; and have 12 months of full-time clinical ultrasound/vascular experience; or (2) Hold a Bachelor's degree and have 12 months of full-time clinical ultrasound/vascular experience. Graduates from a CAAHEP accredited Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program may apply to take the ARDMS without further experience. Industry standards referenced are from the "CAAHEP Standards and Guidelines for the Accreditation of Educational Programs in Diagnostic Medical Sonography" (1996). Appended are: (1) Standards and Guidelines for the Accreditation of Educational Programs in Diagnostic Medical Sonography; (2) Related Academic Standard; and (3) 21st Century Skills. A list of suggested references is provided for each unit. (Contains 3 footnotes.)

Two teachers gathered psychology definitions from 1,000 college students enrolled in introductory psychology classes on the first and last days of class during two successive fall terms at the University of Tennessee. A word analysis of first-day definitions suggested three major themes: behavior, mind/brain, and environment. These terms showed that the conventional wisdom of these students about how psychology is defined remained consistent, in most ways, with actual textbook definitions. Last-day definitions revealed very close agreement with definitions contained in the text and used by the teacher in the introductory psychology class. Introductory textbook authors and teachers of introductory classes should understand prevailing, conventional definitions of psychology and be aware of the influence a textbook definition and the definition teachers use in class have on the students' view of psychology. (Author)

This third-party evaluation report, presented in six sections, begins with an introductory section on the procedures used to evaluate the Bilingual Human Services Educational Consortium. (The consortium, a one-year college level program, prepares underemployed and unemployed Franco-Americans for paraprofessional human service jobs.) Also described in the introduction is the summative evaluation design based on program participants' attitudes as assessed through questionnaires, interviews, and observations. In section 2 findings on students' perspectives are presented. In section 3 the faculty perspective is examined and in section 4 the practicum supervisor's perspective is investigated. In the fifth section, seventeen observations and recommendations resulting from site visits are presented in four categories: providing University access for non-traditional students, program atmosphere, vocational training, and academic considerations. The final section presents the results of each program objective: (1) to expand the bilingual certificate gerontology program, (2 and 3) to provide bilingual vocational education for Maine's high Franco-American populations and 100 unemployed and underemployed adults, and (4) to encourage consortia between the University of Maine system and community agencies in meeting the above objectives. The report concludes that the first three objectives were met, and the fourth was partially fulfilled. (See related document CE 017 481 which contains a comprehensive report of all project activities.) (CSS)