A survey of White fourth-,sixth-, and eighth-grade students reveals that the effects on them of televised portrayals of Blacks were limited and selectively processed. (FL)

Discusses the literature on children's early thinking about written symbols and offers suggestions for teachers seeking to extend that thinking. (FL)

Concludes that an age change in the differential retention of relevant and irrelevant information, when questions are known beforehand, is not necessarily contingent upon a similar age change in attention allocation, as measured by the recorded viewing time. (FL)

Comprehensive assessment in context focuses on the processes and structures involved in subject matter competence as moderated in performance by personal and environmental influences. This article addresses in detail both the nature of developing competence and its measurement in terms of context-dependent task performance. (Author/EGS)

It is important to understand the biological, psychological, and social pressures facing modern adolescents in order to use art education as a uniting force in the evolution of education. These pressures are discussed and the role of art as a catalyst in adolescents' total education is examined. (IS)

By restructuring the sequence in which American history is taught so that classes proceed from the present to the past, secondary students in the Backward History Project have learned history more effectively and have been more interested and involved than in standard classes. The philosophy underlying this change is discussed. (IS)

Two methodological issues involved in determining the relationship between learning and general intelligence were examined: (1) the use of learning strategies in a paired-associate task and (2) the importance of time (rather than errors) in the measurement of learning efficiency. (Author/RD)

This study investigated the relationship between measures of speed of cognitive information processing and intelligence test scores. Cognitive processing measures were significantly related to IQ scores. Reaction time tests measure cognitive operations basic to intelligence, and individual differences in intelligence are partly due to variability…

Incorporating the arts into the educational process can help children learn to think clearly and to set and reach goals, so that they can meet change more effectively. Numerous examples of this approach are described. (TE)

In two experiments, first and fourth grade subjects performed a speeded card sorting task with either integral or nonintegral dimensions. The dimensions were arranged so that subjects sorted on three types of task: (1) single dimension, (2) correlated dimensions, and (3) orthogonal dimensions. (Author/MS)

This paper addresses four of the seven themes of the 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics--research, technology, pedagogical innovation, and curricular innovation--from the point of view that learning mathematics is learning. Research from a variety of fields including education, neurobiology, and cognitive psychology…

To become an efficient reader of subject matter in geography, students need to have adequate background information to read the ensuing content. Vocabulary considerations thoroughly enter into the reading act. A major problem for the teacher when students read geographical content is to develop meaning. To assist students in reading and…

According to a 1996 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, 75% of America's colleges offer remedial courses and 29% of first-time freshmen take them. Community colleges typically spend more on remedial education than do four-year institutions, and they are anticipating increased demand for such programs. The study cites Howard…

To probe beyond declarative knowledge about real numbers in secondary school, the authors interviewed students in Grades 9, 10 and 12. The main question seems to be whether the length of a decimal expansion is "indefinite" or "infinite." It blurs the mental representation of rational numbers as well. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [For complete…

The objective of this study was to investigate the emergence of a "mindy" (a unit of mind). The mindy is characterized as an open, organized, discrete, and kinematic mental shape. The study was the sequel to research on the emergence of mental shape (R. Laassonen, 1993). The subjects were 84 students, aged 13 to 16 years and…