The "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" has been a major influence on language teaching in Europe and beyond and its "Companion Volume" will probably have the same significance. It is important therefore that education professionals understand the underlying concepts, including the conceptualisation of the…

The authors investigated the psychometric properties of the subscales of the Self-Perception Profile for Children with item response theory (IRT) models using a sample of 611 children. Results from a nonparametric Mokken analysis and a parametric IRT approach for boys (n = 268) and girls (n = 343) were compared. The authors found that most scales…

Although researchers have succeeded in identifying knowledge and skills and personal traits and characteristics of effective leaders, they have not been nearly as successful in identifying or defining those elusive leadership qualities that fall into the affective domain--what the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)…

The main characteristic of children's play is its mental aspect--the fact that it is based on thoughts and feelings and not on objective reality. During imaginary play, children go beyond the limits of reality, and toys are tools that help them to do this. Children need character toys--toys that play the role of companion or partner--in the early…

This study investigated the effect that varying degrees of faculty self-promotion had on 322 student evaluations. As high student evaluations are correlated with greater student learning, it is imperative that we assess how faculty's presentation style is perceived by students so as to enhance instruction and therefore student learning. Students…

Recent experiments have shown that people process information about themselves more efficiently than other kinds of information. To investigate individual differences in the processing of self-relevant information, subjects (N=41) rated the self- and other-applicability of 90 traits and completed nine standard personality scales. Several measures…

The Narcissistic Personality Questionnaire for Children (NPQC) is a brief self-report scale for measuring narcissism in children. In Study 1, a factor analysis on 370 children's NPQC scores revealed four factors that were labeled superiority, exploitativeness, self-absorption, and leadership. Study 2 established convergent and discriminant…

Self-concept is one of the most popular ideas in psychological literature. Unfortunately, it is also an illusive and often poorly defined construct. Before attempting to assess self-concept, counseling practitioners or researchers must first clarify for themselves what they mean by "self-concept" and then choose a method or instrument…

The traditional method of measuring self-esteem has been to construct instruments based on their face validity, even though this approach has been shown to involve many difficulties when deriving scales for subjective dimensions such as self-esteem. An alternative approach to the measurement of self-esteem is based on techniques of psychophysical…

Techniques to help the elementary teacher evaluate students. (SP)

Depression therapy literature cites the importance of self-concept in formulating therapeutic strategies. Traditional depression measures catalog a client's symptoms, but fail to tap the structure of dysfunctional thoughts and judgments that form the client's self-concept. Vector-product multidimensional scaling was used to develop a measure of…

Primary attention is given to the drawings of the normal child, starting with the earliest scrawls and drawings through the first representational drawings and the evolving human figure up to the sixth year of human life. The child's normal development is described, including the many normal deviations and immaturities often present. The use of…

Five aspects of the psychological assessment of children are considered. First, the hypotheses of assessment are examined, with attention to the role of the scientist-clinician, the nature and the social and personal determinants of development, and the ego as the object assessment. Second, methods of data collection are surveyed, including…

Self-understanding is critical to effective teaching and leadership. This article reviews the importance of self-knowledge as a cornerstone in education programs, then describes a process for developing self-understanding and some of the assessment instruments used in these programs. Finally, the paper summarizes the data provided by 281 students…

A true experimental design with 60 male probationers, ages 13-16, was used to evaluate the viability of an Ontario-based 21-day wilderness adventure program as an alternative for adjudicated juveniles placed on probation. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group was subdivided into 3…