Students identified by talent search programs were studied to determine whether spatial ability could uncover math-science promise. In Phase 1, interests and values of intellectually talented adolescents (617 boys, 443 girls) were compared with those of top math-science graduate students (368 men, 346 women) as a function of their standing on…

Several issues about component validity are examined by using covariance modeling to test hypotheses about the relationships between components, aptitude, and achievement. Support was found for cognitive components to model individual differences in verbal aptitude, decompose test validity, and differentially predict achievement. (Author/GK)

This article reviews progress toward the development of a cognitive theory of aptitude for learning and presents descriptive and precriptive goals for aptitude theories. Preliminary hypotheses about the nature of cognitive processes in aptitude for learning from instruction are reviewed. Twelve constituent points of the descriptive theory are…

Subjects learning under a high degree of student control learned the least but formed the most favorable attitude toward the method of instruction. (Author/CB)

Graduate students completed questionnaires containing either past performance information alone or past performance information and aptitude scores for a hypothetical student. Low aptitude scores led to greater ability attributions, regardless of performance. High aptitude scores led to greater effort attributions given poor performance and to…

The structural relations among viewing behaviors, viewing conditions, background characteristics, and intellectual ability to preschoolers' learning from instructional television were investigated. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups who viewed tapes designed to teach seriation concepts. A School Aptitude factor made…

Developmental differences in reasoning ability and item processing demands are analyzed in a study of cognitive determinants of number analogy performance in two IQ levels of elementary school children and college students. The amount of solution-related information in working memory was the crucial processing demand. Process differentiations of…

Six classes of fifth- and sixth-grade students were taught a unit on probability. Following the lesson, students were interviewed about their thought processes. Students' reports of their understanding of the lesson and their use of specific cognitive strategies were related to achievement. (Author/BW)

Evaluated the effect of listening to stories on children's vocabulary growth. Children acquired new vocabulary from listening to stories, with both frequency of exposure and teacher explanation of target words enhancing vocabulary learning. The interventions, however, were not sufficient to overcome the Matthew effect, as higher ability children…

Earlier research has shown that prior knowledge of psychology is positively associated with course achievement. But are these effects attributable to preexisting differences in general ability or aptitude? The authors administered 2 pretests to 353 students early in an introductory psychology course and obtained measures of general student…

Studied the relationships of assessments of divergent-thinking performance and intellectual aptitude at fifth and tenth grade to nonacademic attainments assessed with a biographical questionnaire in the tenth grade and upon graduation. (Author)