The first of a two-volume final report, this document focuses on a study of written language growth and development among 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year old children. The first section of the document contains five essays dealing with race, sex, age, socioeconomic status, and language; orchestrating the literacy event; reading and writing as…

Some evidence supports the hypothesis that formal operational reasoning ability (at least that measured by Piagetian tasks) is a unified process. The purpose of this research was to determine: (1) if conservation tasks, such as conservation of number, liquid amount, weight and volume, are unifactor; and (2) if conservation tasks form a scale of…

A conceptual model is presented to examine the hypothesis that androgyny is advantageous to the psychological well-being of both females and males in American society. A format for the multi-dimensional assessment of both sex-role components and indices of well-being is proposed, and possibilities for exploring the interface between these sets of…

A taxonomy of psychomotor skills provides a classification of all human movement forms. The development of motor skills in this hierarchy begins with the reflexive physical responses of the infant. The stages of growth include basic interactive movement forms, skilled movement forms, and functional and creative movement forms. This taxonomy offers…

Because relationships with family and friends may cause stress for women, the effects of interactions with family, friends, and community on women's adaption to the experiences of aging are important. Interviews were conducted with 75 women between the ages of 44 and 77 who were educated, relieved of child-rearing responsibilities, and relatively…

Designed initially as a way of understanding the often anomalous rhetoric of movement leaders, the Requirements-Problems-Strategies (RPS) framework for analyzing the rhetoric of social movements has been applied in recent years to analyses of other collective rhetoric and leadership roles in collectivities. RPS has also been used in conjunction…

The theory that there are stages in teachers' professional development suggests that those who aim to stimulate or support that growth must be sensitive to the stage each teacher is in. Three stages of development are described: the survival or beginning teacher stage; the middle stage, characterized by an increasing sense of comfort in the…

Eight physically handicapped (blind, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, or genetic defect) preschool children and eight children with normal sensory motor abilities (mean age of both groups 3 1/2 years) participated in a preschool demonstration project designed to promote equal educational and social experiences in an integrated preschool through the…

Research has shown that the transition period from a man's completion of school to first full-time job and first marriage has become shorter in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to explain part of the time reduction in this transitional period. Early in the twentieth century the transition took about 18 years because many men left school…

The learning of different school subjects (history, English, poetry appreciation, creative writing, reading, elementary school mathematics, geography, and modern languages) can be evaluated qualitatively, using the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) Taxonomy. The taxonomy is structured into five major levels, with transitional…

The relationship between children's language and their knowledge of the various features of their language and their reading is examined from the perspective of several prominent theories about the link between thought and language. The first chapter contrasts features of five significant contemporary theories of language and thought--the Russian,…

Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) is predicated on a theory of causality. According to Ellis (1962), beliefs regarding an event, and not the event itself, cause emotional reactions. Mentally healthy persons practice this reational theory of causality. Neurotic persons accept an irrational theory of causality based on coincidental or correlational…

A review is presented of studies which examine the psychological predictors of successful adult performance, or life skill success. Scholastic achievement is generally regarded as an ineffective predictor of successful life performance. It is suggested that factors such as ego maturity and personal competence (developmental psychological…

Three developmental approaches to teacher education are examined in an effort to determine a coherent theoretical framework of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of education programs. The first is discussed in terms of the development in a teacher of concern for student achievement and increasing willingness to be flexible in adapting new…

Substantial evidence exists in both popular and professional literature which suggests that some adults, male and female, will experience what has been variously labeled as a "mid-life crisis" or "mid-life depression." Research provides evidence that the lifespan can be conceptualized as a series of transitions from one status or situation to…