The concept of emotional competence entails resilience, self-efficacy, and acting in accord with one's sense of moral character. This suggests argues that emotional competence is demonstrated by the self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting encounters and identifies eight key emotional skills that support its acquisition in interpersonal contexts. The…

Investigated secondary-level students' (N=66) understanding of three-dimensional structures in biology. Results suggest that student performance is highly correlated with age, scientific ability, and sex. Suggestions for instructional improvement in spatial relationships are offered. (ML)

To clarify patterns in the rate of motor development, children observed between kindergarten and second grade were refilmed, performing an overarm throw, when they became seventh-grade students. Results were compared with predictions made earlier. Differences in the skill levels of boys and girls and differences in their throwing experience are…

A survey of 143 graduates of the University of Central Lancashire found that (1) most tended to rate the importance of certain skills higher than their own abilities in those areas; (2) they felt least prepared in information technology; (3) women rated most skills as more important than men did; and (4) men and women needed to rate themselves…

This paper discusses the meaning and formation of children's play in order to (1) deepen understanding and respect for what play is, (2) demonstrate how young children cannot thrive or survive without play, and (3) give a common framework for interpreting and deriving meaning from the play behavior that occurs in the daily lives of young children.…

The development of ontogenetic movements--complex, learned skills such as throwing--is greatly influenced by socialization experiences provided by parents. Girls, as well as boys, should be given the opportunity to learn and develop these skills during preschool years. (PP)

Relations among age appearance, facial attractiveness, and adult expectations of infants' developmental maturity were examined in three studies. Adults judged unattractive infants to be older and capable of more specific developmental skills than attractive infants but rated their general competence to be lower. (BC)

Mothers', fathers' and teachers' perceptions of young children's five motor, gross motor, and language skills were scored as underestimates, hits, or overestimates. Comparisons yielded no differences between groups except mothers overestimated gross motor skills, and teachers underestimated fine motor skills more than fathers. Correlations…

To determine whether the creative-adventure playground model functions as an effective extension of the classroom, researchers at Northern Illinois University's Early Childhood Education Research Laboratory studied the effects of playground participation on the development of visual-motor integration in 32 preschool boys and girls aged 3 to 4.5.…

Literature analysis compared training gains in elementary girls' and boys' throwing performance to evaluate whether catchup effects were present. There was a lack of significant interaction between gender and training, supporting the hypothesis that training produces significant improvements in performance for both sexes. There was no catchup…

This document contains 13 presentations/discussion summaries and 10 supporting 'thesis' papers from a symposium on selected issues in human resources development (HRD) in Europe. The following summaries are included: "Introduction" (Sabine Manning); "Developing Flexibility in Pursuit of Competitiveness" (Nick Boreham);…

The Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) is a multiple ability test battery of specific work skills for use in career counseling. This study reports on ability changes by gender, race, and socioeconomic status in a BAB retest of 112 young adults four years after their initial testing. The sample consisted of 68 females and 44 males; 15 Blacks, 21…

This study compared the process skill achievement of students (N=107) completing traditional laboratory exercises with students (N=127) not only completing the same exercises but also receiving instruction in such integrated process skills as identifying variables and stating hypotheses. The relationships among process skill achievement, cognitive…

The Motoric Music Skills Test was administered to 808 children, ages three to six, from seven Kansas communities. Analysis of descriptive and inferential data indicate that the measured skills increase with age and differ by sex. Race, community size, and previous musical instrument experience were not significantly related to test performance.…