An experimental study utilizing 96 black grade school children substantiates the hypothesis that learning efficiency improves as the learner elaborates on the raw material presented to him. Suggestions are offered for the implementation of new learning strategies based on this mental elaboration approach which may be especially valuable for…

Notes that before making claims for the large impact attributed to quantity of schooling--claims that are aimed at influencing policy decisions--its effects should be examined in a wide variety of school settings, with attention to individual student differences and to the importance of cumulative effects. (Author/AM)

Excerpts are from a recently completed study of the cognitive styles of Indian and non-Indian children and they also draw on the recollections of college students. (Author/AM)

The original intent of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Object Sorting Task (OST) as a predictor of learning outcomes, especially among minority children. The study results, however, have produced a subtle but significant shift of attention to the issue of possible differences in the cognitive organization of children…

Sociolinguistic analysis of the ways children and teachers interact verbally may provide insight into why minority children often have difficulty in school. Examples of a classroom discussion cycle are listed and discussed. (DF)

In this pilot study, the effect of experimenter cuing on recall and organization of response was analyzed and compared between subjects identified as learning disabled with an isolated memory impairment (LDMI), learning disabled without an isolated memory impairment (LDO), and normal controls (N). Six subjects were selected for each group after…

Many aspects of knowledge needed to function in the mainstream society can be acquired more effectively through the use of a culturally relevant curriculum. This belief is based on the transfer principle, which implies that knowledge of the basic skills is not specific to any culture or language. (Author/EB)

Develops a perspective on relevance and suggests some means of maximizing the effectiveness of our educational goals in teaching the disadvantaged child mathematics. (Author/JM)

This Digest considers language learning as a socio-cultural process, contending that to fully function in a particular language, one not only needs to understand the mechanics, such as the grammar, but also to apply that language across various contexts, audiences, and purposes. The Digest discusses language learning at home, language learning in…

Examines public library services to young children and their families and the possible effects of those services on preschool learning. Topics include library-community partnerships to promote literacy; readiness to learn; and children at risk for difficulties in acquiring literacy, including socioeconomic factors and ethnic and language…

The relationship between locus of control, social class, and learning processes were reviewed by analyzing: (1) externality as a function of socioeconomic status, i.e., the lower the status, the greater the degree of externality; (2) the impact of the early home environment on the child's learning and development; (3) classroom and teacher…

Researchers suggest that children of minority groups are so confused by the customs of the dominant culture represented in schools that their English literacy learning suffers. An ethnographic study examined the literacy learning of two language minority children in a suburban kindergarten program. Using unstructured interviews, the focal…

Forty low-achieving seventh and eighth grade students were involved in a study to ascertain whether intelligence, underachievement, or the difference between aural and sight vocabularies could predict relative learning rate with respect to reading achievement gains. For purposes of the study, "relative learning rate" was defined as the ratio of…

THIS REPORT BRIEFLY REVIEWS TRENDS IN 20TH-CENTURY RESEARCH ON EDUCATING DISADVANTAGED AND MINORITY GROUP PUPILS. MANY STUDIES WRITTEN IN THE 1920'S AND 1930'S INDICATED THAT NEGROES WERE LESS INTELLIGENT THAN CAUCASIANS, AND THUS TEACHERS DEMANDED LITTLE OF THEIR MINORITY GROUP PUPILS. SINCE THAT TIME RESEARCH STUDIES HAVE EMPHASIZED THE…

This manual is a companion to an earlier one, "Reinforcing Productive Classroom Behavior," that dealt with the use of reinforcement procedures by school personnel as a means for shaping constructive behavior in children. The present pamphlet continues to focus on the behavior influence process, but its topic is modeling and role-playing as applied…