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The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean high school students' perceptions of their laboratory classrooms, focusing especially on the aspects measured by the items in the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI). The study involved 439 high school students from three different streams (145 from the humanities stream, 195 from the science-oriented stream, and 99 from the science-independent stream). The validity and reliability of a translated version of the SLEI were confirmed when used with Korean students. Associations between laboratory classroom environments and students' attitudes were found. When the perceptions of students from the three streams were compared, it was found that students from the science-independent stream perceived their classroom environments more favorably than did students in the other two streams. Interviews with students confirmed their responses to items in the SLEI and provided additional information about laboratory classroom environments in Korea. (Contains 39 references, 5 tables, and 2 figures.) (Author/MM)

A study was conducted to identify pathological Internet users and to reveal their psychological features and problematic usage patterns. One thousand and fifty Taiwanese undergraduates were selected. An Internet Addiction Scale was adopted to classify 648 students into 4 clusters. The 146 users in the 4th cluster, who reported significantly higher degrees of addiction and perceived more negative impacts from using the Internet, were believed to be the at-risk pathological Internet users. These users were further classified into five groups according to their Internet usage, Internet sensation seeking, and perceptions of the Internet. The major finding of this study is that at-risk pathological Internet users can be classified into five subgroups with distinct problematic features. The results suggest that viewing these problematic natures as a cohesive group is inadequate. Pathological Internet users are heterogeneous, engaging in various Internet applications in different intensities, some emphasizing the pleasure or attention driven features, and others seeking stimulating activities and materials. The investigation encourages the awareness of this problem among families, universities, business, and even government offices, with the aim of promoting healthy use of the Internet. (Contains 1 figure, 6 tables, and 27 references.) (JDM)

The purpose of this study was to explore the interplay between young people's attitudes toward computer networks and Internet addiction. After analyzing questionnaire responses of an initial sample of 615 Taiwanese high school students, 78 subjects, viewed as possible Internet addicts, were selected for further explorations. It was found that subjects' attitudes toward computer networks could explain many aspects of Internet addiction. However, students' perceptions or behaviors on actual Internet usage are more important than their affective responses toward computer networks in predicting students' Internet addiction. (Author/MES)

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measurement for the identification of Internet addictive high school students. There were 615 subjects selected by a stratified sampling from the population of Taiwanese 10th to 12th graders. The final version of the Internet Addiction Scale for Taiwan High Schoolers (IAST) contained 20 items that were grouped into five factors: (1) Compulsive Use/Withdrawal; (2) Tolerance; (3) Related Problems: Resource Management; (4) Related Problems: Family/Health/Learning; and (5) Negation. The reliability of the scale as a whole and the subscales was satisfactory. Total scores of IAST demonstrated a normal distribution. Addicts classified by IAST showed a heavier usage in more Internet applications and perceived more negative influence of Internet toward their life than the addicts identified by a previous study and the non-addicts. The usage of the Internet negatively influenced life routines, health, parental relationship, and school achievement of the addicts. However, their teacher and peer relations were enhanced by the Internet use. The three most frequently-used Internet applications of the addicts were: the World Wide Web (5.79 hours/week), Bulletin Board Systems (3.85 hours/week), and chat rooms (3.61 hours/week). (Contains 11 references.) (Author/MES)

This study followed Sternberg and Horvath's (1995) prototype view to sketch a teaching expertise schema as the hypothetical model. An interview of 13 novice, beginning, and expert teachers was used to examine the adequacy of the model. The participants were asked to comment on slides of classroom events. Their think-out-loud protocols were coded using two coding systems (knowledge domains and levels of processing). Then, their active pedagogical knowledge was drawn for further content analysis using quantitative and qualitative methods. Results indicated the appropriateness of the hypothetical model to treat experts' knowledge as the prototype of teacher expertise. However, significant differences existed between novice, beginning, and expert teachers' knowledge, so some modifications (e.g., fuzzy nature, knowledge element features, weights of subdomains, and knowledge organization) were recommended. Expert teachers possessed more knowledge than beginning and novice teachers. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/SM)

For many teacher education programs, the development of the effective teacher is one of their primary goals. Research has shown that teachers' sense of efficacy is a significant indicator of effective teacher teachers. This study attempts to reveal novice, beginning, and expert science and mathematics in-service or pre-service teachers' pedagogical knowledge and how the teachers' knowledge is related to their sense of efficacy. The expert and beginner teachers reported higher teaching efficacy than the novice teachers as measured by a formal psychological scale. The experts and beginners also related more teaching efficacy-related statements than novices. (Contains 33 references.) (ASK)