Open meetings are regularly scheduled times when all class members and the teacher sit together in a closed circle to discuss important topics, such as name-calling. Such meetings are structured, moving from reviewing ground rules to posing a warmup question, encouraging numerous perspectives, personalizing the topic, and challenging students to…

Focuses on the question of how language rights can be subjected to legal provisions. Argues that, because language has social and individual aspects, working out solutions for specific situations is more important than universal principles. Argues against the idea that languages are objects deserving of legal protection. (14 references) (Author/CK)

Used growth curve analysis to describe the development of 186 preschoolers with vision impairments. Found that mental retardation and developmental delay were associated with lower developmental ages and slower growth rates. Visual function of 20/800 or worse was associated with lower developmental ages and slower growth rates in personal-social…

Explored individual-difference factors that might differentially predict perceived gender discrimination in a sample of 138 female and 157 male undergraduates. Differences in gender patterns in the relationship of self-esteem to perceptions of discrimination suggest that perceptions of discrimination serve different purposes for structurally…

Discusses misconceptions that half-informed educators might have about the author's theory of multiple intelligences. The seven intelligences are based on explicit criteria and respond to specific real-world content. Educators can assess proficiency, but not intelligence at different tasks. Theories can have infinite numbers of possible…

Evaluation of the metacognitive strategies used by four upper elementary gifted students with reading disabilities during a reading comprehension think-aloud task found that, although the students monitored their reading and reported use of evaluation, paraphrase, and regulation metacognitive strategies, they were not proficient in these…

This study compared 2 naturalistic language intervention methods--milieu teaching and responsive interaction--in 6 preschool classrooms that included 36 children with moderate to severe language disabilities. Although no main effects for treatment were found, milieu teaching was more effective with children having the lowest language levels and…

Two studies compared the relative effectiveness of a developmentally based language facilitation program, a direct language facilitation program, or a combined developmental/direct program for 52 preschool children with disabilities. Both studies indicated that no program was better overall. Differential effects of the interventions could be…

Studied modeling individual latent growth curves of older adults on measures of fluid intelligence by fitting second-order polynomial curves reflecting initial test performance improvement followed by relative stability/drop to the recorded scores of each of 248 subjects. Results suggest substantial plasticity in fluid intelligence of older…

Assessed age-related changes in 2- to 4-year olds' verbal and nonverbal memory for the same unique event. Found that children's performance on each memory measure increased as a function of age. Children with more advanced language skills reported more during the verbal interview and exhibited superior nonverbal memory relative to children with…

Discusses assessment of Web-based instruction and reports results of a study that investigated whether segmentation of information and the provision of an overview of the Web system differentially facilitated learning performance, measured with recall questions and a short essay question, for individuals with different cognitive styles. (LRW)

Discussion of approaches to studying used by students in higher education focuses on a study at the Open University (United Kingdom) that administered the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory to students taking a Web-based course in computing. Discusses student perceptions of academic quality associated…

Recounts a study documenting the actual learning trajectory of the classroom community and the diversity in eighth-graders' reasoning as they participated in the classroom mathematical practices that constituted this trajectory. Describes the learning of the research team by documenting conjectures about students' statistical learning and the…

Presents a study examining individual differences, such as sex, gender, self-discrepancies, and self awareness. Determined how the differences affect anger and verbal aggressiveness among a sample of U.S. college students (n=445). Reports that repressing anger is explained by masculinity and public self-awareness; while expressing anger is caused…

Children's phonological processing abilities, reading skills, and vocabulary were assessed annually from kindergarten through grade four. Found that individual differences in phonological awareness were related to subsequent differences in word-level reading, and that individual differences in letter-name knowledge were related to subsequent…