Investigated were the effects of sex, ability and training method on the musical instrument playing ability of 16 institutionalized severely and profoundly retarded persons ages 7 to 20 years. Ss were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups, and the time required to reach criterion playing a familiar tune was recorded. Data indicated…

Canada is experiencing a dramatic growth in interest in and implementation of the middle school concept. Currently needed is information on the specific characteristics of the middle school as it develops in Canada and information validating the practices that are accompanying restructure efforts. This study investigated the relationship between…

This study investigated the effectiveness of teaching specific rather than global comprehension skills; the correlations among sex, intelligence level, and comprehension gain when taught global or specific comprehension skills; and the correlations between the factors of intelligence, comprehension, and vocabulary without regard for the teaching…

Attitudes toward and achievement in a foreign language were studied with 349 high school seniors. Controlling for native language achievement, difficulty in learning the language was an important achievement factor, and gender and years of study contributed to achievement. Implications for instruction are discussed. (SLD)

Long-documented gaps between male and female performance on tests of spatial mathematics ability are discussed. Possible explanations are offered, and suggestions are put forth for cultivating spatial relationships ability in girls through sports and other activities. (PB)

Compared conventional biology instruction to personalized system of instruction (PSI) and investigated relationship between achievement and selected variables (age, sex, family income/size, grade point average, motivational factors, treatment group, and California Achievement Test scores) of college students (N=80). Results, among others, indicate…

Research indicates that boys perform better on mathematics tests while girls perform better on reading tests. An investigation of why boys' and girls' performance differs was made by coding teacher interactions with second grade students during reading and mathematics instruction. Results reveal that teachers: made relatively more academic contact…

Randomly assigned 80 boys and girls in grades 3 and 7 to either a football-related or a dance-related group. Performance expectancies obtained prior to engaging in a novel motor task can be affected by the way a task is presented. Boys were more affected than girls by labels of sex appropriateness. (Author/BJV)

Eight articles are included in this collection. Topics include: multicultural science, teaching science with metaphors, development of a graded assessment scheme in science, relative performance of boys and girls in chemistry, promoting science understanding, formative evaluations, science background of primary teachers, and promoting creativity…

This report describes a 9-month project, conducted in seven states, during which teaching strategies and teacher attitudes which successfully encouraged girls in science were observed, described, and analyzed. Biology, taken by over 80 percent of high school students, was the course selected for observation; if girls are turned off to science in…

This report describes a course in the Irish student-teacher curriculum that was designed in response to criticisms of post-graduate teacher training that it was too theoretical and insufficiently practical. The design of the Applied Psychology of Instruction course was based on the teacher-as-researcher paradigm of professionalism. Student…

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 were used to identify factors related to gender differences in tenth-grade science performance. The advantage found for eighth-grade boys had widened by tenth grade. Findings emphasize the importance of active classroom involvement as a way of promoting gender equity. (SLD)

Current research and though regarding the relationship of individual difference (ID) factors to achievement in the basic skills is reviewed. Four major categories and nine subcategories of ID factors are defined and serve as the framework for the review: status factors (age, sex, and race, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status); intelligence…

Teachers and students in the English as a second language classes at the West New York (New Jersey) Adult Learning Center participated in a study to determine which patterns of classroom interaction and student characteristics were most highly related to the acquisition of oral proficiency in English. Differences in teaching styles and…