According to researchers, the principal's leadership and the perceptions of the school staff are important in effective schools. A method for uncovering personal perceptions called ethnographic semantics is described. Findings from a study in which this methodology was used are presented. Includes three tables and two figures. (MD)

Discussed are the roles played by anticipation, belief, and motivation in two young children's problem-solving activity. It is argued that a solver's beliefs and motivations are intimately related, and that the discussion of the two children's behaviors may have some generality. (Author/MNS)

Investigates the effects of question type (general or specific) and question position (prior to or following writing) upon measures of conceptual elaboration in writing. Results indicate that writers can benefit from questions following initial writing that enhance conceptual elaboration of base-level ideas during writing revision. (HOD)

Discusses recent research in the development of spelling, the development of spelling ability, and invented spelling and the child's voice. (DF)

Examines some recent ERIC materials on comprehension processes and on how teachers can improve students' awareness of comprehension or metacomprehension. (HOD)

Determines whether early hemispheric differences exist in tactual processing by testing infants and preschoolers on six cross-modal tasks. Results are the first to demonstrate a left-hand superiority for information processing in children as young as two years. (Author/AS)

Suggests a model of human cognition by describing similarities between human and electronic computers. This model might guide the development of software so that it is sufficiently powerful and flexible to be of value to human computers as they construct new knowledge in chemistry. (JN)

The instructional effectiveness and efficiency of organizational chunking and batched postquestions within the framework of an information processing approach to learning and memory were investigated. Results indicated that the chunked treatment was a more efficient learning strategy. The intervening postquestion strategy helped reduce completion…

A total of 160 second-grade children were assigned on the basis of a free-recall pretest to four instructional conditions and were given a series of lists of pictures for free recall. Results focused on different levels of recall displayed by experimental and control groups. (Author/CI)

Alaska native children tend toward academic difficulties due to the mismatch between school curricula and their linguistic and culturally-based cognitive skills. Data derived from a rigorous linguistic approach, which analyzes their actual speech to identify cognitive abilities, would assist researchers and curriculum designers improve school…

Describes an Environmental Reading Program, in which students come to realize that they are readers of their surroundings. Shows how the program can stimulate thought processes and promote comprehension. (FL)

Suggests the growing use of computers to process information in today's world increases the human need for an interactive competency in writing and reading. The integration of instruction in reading and writing, particularly through use of word processors, is discussed as a way to strengthen this interaction. (MBR)

A longitudinal study examined (1) development of relationship between physical maturation rate and cognitive performance as children become adolescent and (2) specific components of cognitive processing linked to physical maturation-related differences in performance on cognitive ability tasks. Differences were detected on cognitive process tasks.…

Uses a proofreading task to investigate whether function and content words are processed differently in a text. Concludes that misprints are hard to detect in words that retain the original shape, short words prevent detection of misprints more than long words, and that there is an interaction between word type and length. (HOD)

Describes a perception test that can lead to a lively discussion of why students missed some of the answers. (HOD)