Analysis of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale (BBCS) indicated that all subtests except two (Quantity and Time) showed statistically significant correlations between item difficulty and frequency of concept words. Administration of the BBCS to 36 first graders revealed that most concept words showed expected item discrimination indices. (Author/JDD)

Investigates the nature of social concept development in young children. A heterogeneous sample of 64 kindergarten and 65 first grade public school students completed an assessment task for both basic concepts and social concepts. Grades, sex, and racial group had significant impact on performance. Important differences in difficulty among social…

The difficulties that younger students experience in understanding concepts related to the use of variables in computer programming are examined through descriptions of two studies: (1) detailed case studies of six highly intelligent children--three fourth graders and three sixth graders--who learned to program in BASIC during 60 hours of…

Three studies of children at two developmental levels were made to assess subjects' understanding of the verbal terms "easy" (to do) and "hard" (to do). Such understanding was studied in the context of statements about personal competence at depicted activities. Behavioral criteria of levels of understanding were employed;…

Differences in learning processes were studied in more versus less intellectually able undergraduate students. Thirty subjects were selected to represent a wide range of general and mathematical reasoning abilities, based on the following test scores: Necessary Arithmetic Operations and Vocabulary Test V2 from the Educational Testing Service ETS…