This study (N=196) examined the extent to which the frequency of parent-child math activities in preschool was associated with children's developmental trajectories of math skills from preschool to primary school. Parents reported the frequency of their involvement in a variety of math activities with their preschool children. Children were tested…

The purpose of the present study was to determine if numeral knowledge--the ability to identify Arabic numerals and connect Arabic numerals to their respective quantities--mediates the relation between informal and formal mathematical knowledge. A total of 206 3- to 5-year-old preschool children were assessed on 6 informal mathematics tasks and 2…

Creative drawings of three preschool girls were modified using reinforcement procedures. Adult judges gave higher ratings of creativity for drawings with increased form diversity but not for those with increased color diversity. The role of social validation in defining and encouraging creativity is discussed. (Author/BH)

Adults viewed silent videotapes of high- and low-achieving children and estimated the level of understanding revealed by each child. Observers accurately differentiated between understanding and not understanding in spontaneous and deliberate conditions. In the spontaneous conditions, high achievers were perceived as understanding more than low…

Teachers evaluated taped speech samples of middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES) black and white children. Adequacy of task performance was equivalent for all groups, although speech patterns varied as a function of race and social class. White middle SES children were rated and ranked more positively than their counterparts. (Author/CP)

In three experiments, undergraduates evaluated student performance based on two sources of information differing in variability: test scores and grades. Differential weighting occurred only when instructions linked variability to reliability. It was concluded that evaluators will not ordinarily use relative variability of scores as an index of…