This study examined scientific problem finding behavior in 40 gifted rising sixth graders participating in a 1-week summer residential program. Some correlations were found between ability to form hypotheses and creativity. Comparison with a previous study done with ninth graders found significant differences between groups. No differences were…

Examined the mathematical beliefs and achievement of 62 elementary school students from a school at which teachers were participating in a project to improve mathematics teaching. Found that students who enjoyed mathematics were also confident of their math abilities and that there was little correlation between parental support and student…

Examined the conceptions of freedom of speech and religion held by 48 adolescents and young adults, using a structured interview containing assessments of civil liberties in general, in straightforward applications, and in conflict with other social and moral concerns. Findings indicate that sophisticated conceptions of civil liberties emerge by…

Investigated the maintenance and generalization of Individual Education Program (IEP) objectives. Comparison groups and 25 children with mental retardation from early intervention programs completed previously achieved and closely related tasks pertaining to color, shape, number, and size. Found variability in maintenance and generalization for…

With federal aid, the University of Georgia at Athens has developed a program that increases senior faculty involvement in undergraduate instruction. In a year-long seminar, senior faculty members work with junior faculty, teaching assistants, and campus faculty development staff to improve introductory-level instruction. (Author/MSE)

Eighty gifted and 80 nongifted African American, Latino, Filipino, and white elementary school students were evaluated through information processing tasks. There were large differences on all four tasks, two depending on speed of processing and two not dependent on speed, as a function of grade and gifted program membership. (SLD)

Investigated the developmental processes that lead from a literal interpretation of idiomatic expressions to the ability to comprehend and produce them figuratively. Results showed that younger children are more literally oriented than older children, who in turn are more idiomatically oriented, and that children of both age groups found it more…

Adolescents (n=650) rated 10 activities involving drug and alcohol use, unprotected sexual intercourse, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in 6 domains concerning risk to self or others, pleasure, control, peer approval, and parental disapproval. A factor analysis of the items revealed three second-order factors: inherent danger,…

Three major demographic trends (immigration patterns, dissolution of the traditional family structure, and the emerging age profile of the United States population) and three social trends (socioeconomic polarization, growing importance of the Pacific Rim countries to American trade, and new communications technology) are examined as they affect…

Examined the relative role of parent-child relationships, family stress, and disease factors in predicting behavior problems in children with epilepsy. Found that children's self-reliance correlated with parent-reported behavior problems, whereas expression of affect related to teacher-reported problems. Overall, parent-child relationship factors…

Psychological assessments were conducted for 23 Black and 19 Latino sexually abused girls (ages 8-13). Latino girls received significantly higher scores for depression, and they were more likely to have been abused at a younger age or by a relative, or to have had a sibling abused. Latinos also reported higher levels of family conflict and lower…

Investigated homesickness in boys ages 8 through 16. Results indicated that homesickness was prevalent and varied in intensity, was experienced as a combination of depression and anxiety, was presented most often as internalizing behavior, and was more typical for younger boys. The most-homesick became increasingly so during the separation,…

Causes of preschoolers' anger, and preschoolers' reactions to anger, were studied. Measures of social competence and popularity were obtained. Sex, age, and context differences in coping strategies were found. Socially competent and popular children coped with anger in relatively direct and active ways that minimized conflict and damage to social…

The stability of some dimensions of ability between the ages of 12 and 15 years was investigated for 225 boys and 242 girls in Sweden. Testing in grades 6, 8, and 9 indicated high stability for the general intelligence factor and for the residual of the General Visual factor. (SLD)

Whether gender differences in Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test results changed with the age and experience of new examinees was examined for 7,779 male and 7,294 female students, including those under age 24 newly eligible for the examination. No real differences were found for traditional age group and younger examinees. (SLD)