Well over three million children, K-12, are estimated to have lost instructional "seat time" in 2009-2010 because they were suspended from school, often with no guarantee of adult supervision outside the school. That's about the number of children it would take to fill every seat in every major league baseball park and every NFL stadium…

This study examines the predictive utility of students' motivation (self-efficacy and task values) to their physical activity levels and health-related physical fitness (cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength/endurance) in middle school fitness activity classes. Participants (N = 305) responded to questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy…

A science unit on clocks demonstrates the need to control variables to obtain reliable results from an experiment. Two activities, one for beginners and one for advanced students, are included. Directions for making a sundial are offered. (MT)

Presents a classroom demonstration illustrating the connection between spread and Pearson's r. Discusses different factors that may result in an increase, decrease, or no change in r. Describes an exercise using decks of playing cards to generate hypothetical data on variables of intelligence quotient (IQ) and grade point average (GPA). (DK)

The phonological patterns of 22 children with Down's Syndrome, aged 6-12, were tested to assess the relationships among cluster reduction, liquid simplification and sentence length, age, and intelligence quotient. Sentence length was found to be the primary predictor of cluster reduction and liquid simplification in the children's articulatory…

A study investigated the use of frequency of specific behaviors as an indicator of college student response to dissatisfaction. A population of 423 students from 5 universities helped categorize behaviors as characteristic of 4 constructs: exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. Twenty acts emerged as viable indicators of the constructs. (MSE)

Determined: (1) if traditional variables predict performance of black Americans in first-year chemistry at a traditionally black institutions (if so, what is the predictive procedure?); (2) if predictive power for males differs from females; and (3) what implications can be drawn from comparison of this study with past investigations. (JN)

The social psychological constructs postulated by Garner, Clement et al. are integrated into a proposed new framework of second/foreign language (L2) learning motivation. The proposed model comprises three levels: language, learner, and learning situation. Practical examples for motivating L2 learners are presented. (55 references) (LB)

Describes a SYSTAT macro that generates sufficient information from the data available to compute an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc analysis. Suggests the macro procedure as a tool for those who want to explore relations among the results of published studies when raw data are not available. Recommends classroom uses. (DK)

Stresses the importance of the development of phonemic awareness skills for students with reading difficulties. Research suggesting phonemic awareness may be a more powerful predictor for reading progress than IQ is noted. Insets offer specific phonological awareness assessment tasks and corresponding phonological awareness instructional tasks.…

This study tested 625 college students in an introductory computer course to determine their knowledge of common computer terms. Results indicate that a large proportion of the terms are used inconsistently, and not understood by either students or those who define them. Implications for teachers of computer courses are discussed. (MBR)

Investigated predictors of success in organic chemistry and how well freshmen chemistry predicts grades in other science courses (biology and physics) and success in entering medical school. Subjects were 254 freshman enrolling in freshman chemistry at Columbia College (the all-male undergraduate division of Columbia University) in 1978. (JN)

High-ability students in grades 3-8 received lessons in organizing a creative investigation and were then compared to control students not receiving the lessons. The most important variables predicting whether the student initiated a creative investigation were membership in the experimental group and pretreatment self-efficacy scores for creative…

In cases of trauma, medical indexes are used by paramedics to report the condition of the patient to the hospital. Presents a scenario in which students act as paramedics at the scene of an earthquake and use the index called capillary refill to report the severity of the trauma and predict probable survival. (MDH)

An unsuccessful attempt to develop a standard battery of aptitude measures to distinguish practicing dentists is reinterpreted. A sample of 116 dentists showed few differences from the norm group on 22 potential predictors, with some differences counterintuitive. It is concluded that broad conceptualization of characteristics required to complete…