Conditions which call for the discovery of a problem were introduced to fifth graders in a divergent thinking exercise. Significant relationships were found between responses to personal drawings and creative attitudes and values, but not intelligence. Findings indicate that freedom to discover and solve problems appears to be the primary…

The potential effect of goal setting to improve the spelling performance of elementary school students was examined. While results tended to support the hypothesis that the setting of specific and difficult goals improved performance more than simply asking students to do their best, differences in group means were not significant. (Author/CB)

Three categories of information were hypothesized to be important information for successful execution of procedural assembly tasks: operational, spatial, and contextual information. Performance data for two tasks indicated that subjects using "complete" instructions finished the assemblies in less time and with fewer errors than did…

Concludes that strategies are not responsible for memory span development in children 7 through 13 years old. Running and fixed memory span tasks and a running probe task were administered to 38 children. The probe task showed age differences as great as with the fixed span task. Span was reduced by approximately half an item over all ages.…

The report provides preliminary findings of a study on the speed of processing visual information by partially sighted children. Findings revealed considerable variation in performance and suggested that some partially AL sighted children may not be able to cope with the test's time demands. (CL)

Determined whether shoppers would use nutrition information when making in-store choices among brands of five packaged products. Also determined whether information used would be affected by the number of nutrients appearing on signs displayed in the store, and/or by the perceived importance of the set of nutrients presented. (JN)

Exam-skilled, high-anxious college students performed comparably with skilled, low-anxious peers on the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, yet significantly worse on the concurrent backward Digit Span test. Conversely, high-anxious, unskilled subjects were exceeded by low-anxious, unskilled peers on both tasks. (Author/BW)

Speech-action coordination in 100 three and four year olds was measured according to a modified version of Wozniak's hammering-board task. Four instructional conditions (instructional, demonstration, vocalization, no vocalization) were presented in a numerical task ("Hit four times") and in two spatial tasks: three-color ("Hit red,…

Move sequence analysis revealed that, when presented with problems having subgoals difficult to order, 40 preschoolers between 45 and 70 months of age (1) tended to avoid backup; (2) were sensitive to incremental progress toward a goal; and (3) searched moves ahead for a goal. None of several indices of performance were reliably correlated with…

Fifth graders, ninth graders, college students, and persons over age sixty-five were given pencil-and-paper tasks in spatial development. Discusses results in terms of ecological validity, experience, and number of competing cues to be processed simultaneously. Used Piaget's formulation on adult cognitive development to explain elderly's…

Examined the generalizability of the Bannatyne Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) profile of learning disabled children to Mexican-American children (N=64). Analysis suggested that learning disabled Mexican-American children were not characterized by Spatial > Conceptual > Sequential patterns as predicted by Bannatyne.…

Assessed the degree to which components of test-taking strategies, covert self-statements, and subjective anxiety during an exam provide increments in prediction of test performance of undergraduates (N=72). Results showed that only test-taking strategies provided a significant increment to multiple-choice and essay test performance but not math…

Assessment procedures for school principals need to be valid, reliable, and utilitarian. They should emphasize the humane elements of the school setting, and they should reflect a concern for a safe school environment. Breaking these requirements into component parts allows the development of five-point Likert scales teachers may use to assess…

This report presents district- and college-level Management Information System (MIS) baseline information for two fiscal year periods 1997-98 and 1998-99 specific to the systemwide Partnership for Excellence performance goals. The primary purpose of this report is to feed back data contained in the MIS on district and college performance related…

The taxonomy outlined in this paper provides a framework for the classification of performance objectives. The taxonomy has three levels: (1) demonstration of cognitive mastery; (2) demonstration of a task in isolation; and (3) demonstration of a task in context. As one moves up the taxonomy, the student's performance requires a longer period of…