In order to better understand contributing factors of moral judgment development, gifted youth and college students were compared. Moral judgment development, ACT scores, attributional complexity, and descriptors of personality were assessed among 140 college students and 97 gifted youth. Important distinctions favoring the gifted sample were seen…

Although proficiency is a primary goal, the objectives of second language (L2) teaching are also to enhance learners' understanding of the nature of language and culture (National Standards, 1999). This study, based on interviews with 13 American women living in Venezuela, explores nonnatives' perspectives on factors that influence their…

In this study, the author examined the relationship between theory-of-mind understanding and preschool-aged children's peer-related social competence. One hundred eleven 3- to 5-year-old children (48 boys, 63 girls) participated in 2 theory-of-mind tasks designed to assess their understanding of false belief. Teachers rated children's peer-related…

The central question addressed in this study was: What factors are associated with individual differences in academic motivation among first-grade students who were born to low-income adolescent mothers? Data from a 7-year longitudinal study were used to address the question. First-grade teachers assessed academic motivation for 89 children at the…

The field trialling of inventory scales reflecting variation in students' mathematics study and learning processes is described. These scales predict learning outcomes (final marks), but with differentiated patterns of relationship to those outcomes. In combination, the scales also detect cohorts of students at risk of study failure. The work…

This research study examined the role of instructional design knowledge in the development of teaching expertise for university teaching assistants (TAs). ID theoretically supports the development of systematic and meaningful patterns of cognitive organization that characterize teaching expertise. Therefore, it should support TAs in developing…

Recent research in psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience has demonstrated reliable associations between temperament and individual differences in sensitivity and responsiveness to environmental cues and behavioral consequences. Temperament-influenced behavior patterns evident in infancy have also been found to predict behavioral tendencies in…

Students taking courses by distance learning were asked to complete the Academic Engagement Form and the Course Experience Questionnaire. Usable data were obtained from 238 students with a hearing loss and 166 students with no reported disability. Their scores on the two instruments were highly correlated and shared over 80% of their variance.…

In this paper, the author explores her experiences growing up of being defined as "different" due to her class background. The author uses the term "difference" to mean how the concept of the "other" is defined and understood in this society. The "other" in this instance are individuals or groups who have existed on the margins of the society;…

In order to identify differences in determinants of supportive and class use of computers, path modelling was applied in a sample of 468 primary school teachers. Independent variables were categorised in three levels: demographics (age and gender), computer experience (computer training, computer experience expressed over time, intensity of…

The Attuned Representation Model of eating-disorder etiology and symptom maintenance is a comprehensive model that can effectively guide prevention and treatment efforts by addressing individual, cultural, and interactive issues. The model integrates the risk factors related to the onset of eating-disordered behaviors (i.e., biological,…

The consistency/variability of error substitution patterns may hold important implications for subgrouping children with speech disorders, as well as for relationships between learning and generalization patterns. There is a need to quantify and examine the range of consistency/variability within the speech disordered population as it relates to…

Many early childhood teachers report lacking confidence to teach science. Today, science education is defined as "doing science", as opposed to memorization of facts (Seefeldt & Galper, 2002). This paper discusses developmentally appropriate practices in the context of teaching science. Knowledge of child development, individual differences and…

Based on Bronfenbrenner's (1999) ecological perspective, a longitudinal, prospective model of individual differences in the quality of home environment (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment--HOME) was tested in a sample of 179 Brazilian children and their families. Perinatal measures of family socioeconomic status (SES) and child…

The study reported on in this article set out to replicate and extend Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei's (1998) investigation of pragmatic awareness by addressing two research questions: (a) Do learners in English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) contexts display differences in their recognition and rating of pragmatic…