The main effort during the reporting period was focused on Projects A and B of the research proposal. The aim of Project A is to develop strategic disposition tests for determining individual competence and preferred learning style. The aim of Project B is to examine the relationships between individual competence and performance on a task under…

Career education is a new approach that should be designed to develop a clear perspective of the students self and his role for a productive and satisfying life. Therefore, the initial and continuing priority in career education should focus on the student. It also necessitates career preparation for all students. The emphasis, however, should be…

A method for assessing the structure of organization was developed on the basis of the ordinal separation, or proximity, between pairs ot items in recall protocols over a series of trials. The proximity measure is based on the assumption, common to all indices of organization, that items which are coded together in subjective memory units will…

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TAKING WERE STUDIED IN A SAMPLE OF 162 MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN IN GRADE 5. MEASURES OF ANXIETY, CREATIVITY, DEFENSIVENESS, INTELLIGENCE, AND RISK TAKING WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE CERTAIN SELECTED RELATIONSHIPS. THE AUTHOR CONCLUDED THAT CREATIVITY BEARS A MORE POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP TO RISK TAKING THAN DOES…

THE CONCEPT OF PERSERVATION WAS EXTENDED TO A MORE NEURAL LEVEL TO INCLUDE PERSISTENCE OF TRACE ACTIVITY, AND A STUDY WAS MADE TO SEARCH FOR THE DIMENSIONS OF TRACE PERSISTENCE. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PROCESSES AMONG STUDENTS. THE STUDY DID NOT TAKE THE TRADITIONAL PERSONALITY-MOTIVATION…

An experiment was performed in which 155 undergraduate student subjects were provided with information about a stimulus person whose behavioral consistency varied on several issues. The study assumed that if the individual's behavior on the relevant topic was consistent, then behavior on the other issues should have no impact on persuasiveness,…

There are different kinds and degrees of mental handicap. Certain general principles have evolved on which current thinking about the mentally handicapped child in residential care is based. One of the three interacting sets of factors considered here is the relevance of changes in public and professional attitudes to mental handicap. (Author/RK)

Studies indicate that individual differences in strategy use among mentally retarded and learning disabled students can be explained by a metacognition model which integrates three components--Specific Strategy Knowledge, Metamemory Acquisition Procedures, and General Strategy Knowledge (including beliefs about the causes of successful…

Research on child language acquisition should distinguish between different possible causes of variation and not just attribute variation to individual variation. An alternative analysis using a different methodology can show that children's patterns of acquisition are actually relatively similar. (Author/CB)

Instructions between 12 third-grade teachers and their students were coded by observers who also rated the quality of teacher instruction. Questionnaires measured teachers' perception and attitudes. Teachers showing more concern for lower achieving students also received lower ratings on their teaching quality. (Author/BS)

Five expert teachers in gifted education and ten teachers without specialized training were compared on perceptions of and provision for gifted students. Responses differed markedly in allocation of responsibility for learning, depth of suggested activities, general organizational schema, programming of academic subjects, perception of the…

Examines questions related to whether children with severe learning disabilities go through the same developmental stages as children without such problems, or whether they develop along different lines. Explores the "delay" versus "deviance" issue in relation to linguistic development in children with Down's syndrome. Looks…

This study was conducted to test three hypotheses: that moderate levels of external pacing of a microcomputer instructional program would result in more effective learning; that moderate levels of external pacing would improve learning time efficiency; and that lower achievers may have to be forced into further instruction. (MBR)

Examines the relationship between developmental placement as a result of preschool and kindergarten developmental testing and children's later cognitive achievement and social-emotional growth. A total of 223 children in Grades two through six were coded as traditional, overplaced, or "Buy a Year" depending on Gesell Screening Test…

Describes a naturalistic study of preschool children's interactions with software, peers, and teachers as they explored computers. Results are presented as suggestions for teachers, program planners, and researchers, and address the issue of accommodating individual differences, planning for the role of teachers and aides, and keeping an open…