Explores assumptions about student ability that underlie current instructional software design and the possibility that a behaviorist bias influences software design strategies; offers evidence that a behaviorist instructional strategy helps low-ability and hinders high-ability students; presents a contrasting instructional approach; and reviews…

Indicates that passivity in poor readers seems to be tied to several interrelated factors, including frustrating materials, repeated failures, and differences in teacher treatment of good and poor reading groups. Suggests that direct training can mitigate these problems. (FL)

The structural relations among viewing behaviors, viewing conditions, background characteristics, and intellectual ability to preschoolers' learning from instructional television were investigated. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups who viewed tapes designed to teach seriation concepts. A School Aptitude factor made…

New understanding of the aging process and adult developmental psychology, particularly of feeling among older people of loss of control over their lives, suggests that higher education for older adults must go beyond simply providing mental activity to providing opportunities for renewed social relationships and accomplishment of substantial…

Correlations derived from this study indicate that undergraduate students' (N=24) and graduate students' (N=18) performance in statistical methods is not strongly influenced by their aptitude in computer science. One implication is that no computer science prerequisite is necessary for courses utilizing statistical packages. (JN)

Specific aptitude clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (WJPEB) are examined to determine their effectiveness in evaluating aptitude-achievement discrepancies. Advantages of the Scholastic Aptitude clusters over the Broad Cognitive Ability clusters are outlined. Major types of discrepancies, rationale, and research on the…

Examines how both good and poor spellers approach a spelling task. Concludes that good spellers use more spelling strategies and more visual imagery than do poor spellers. (FL)

Hypothesizes that organizational conditions in classrooms affect aspects of student motivation, i.e., students' academic self-concepts, their perceptions of their peers, and their perceptions of school. Research findings in studies of elementary students confirmed the hypothesis that classrooms that narrowly define academic ability increase the…

This synthesis of findings from 40 studies showed that students can raise their test scores by taking practice tests. The size of the gains were a function of three factors: identical vs. parallel forms of the test, number of practice tests, and ability level of the student. (Author/BW)

Presents a statistical study of teacher behavior of 14 foreign language teachers in an intensive program. Their teaching behaviors, categorized into four distinct styles, influence the relationship between second-language learning and student attitudes and aptitudes. (MSE)

Two studies investigated whether instructing students to organize recall would differentially facilitate performance of "fast" and "slow" learners (defined from pretest recall performance). Instructions to employ alphabetic organization facilated performance of both groups to the same extent, whereas categorical organization facilitated slow…

Hypothesis predicting ordinal interactions between self-concept and high and low guidance methods of instruction were tested with 92 elementary school subjects. General and academic self-concept were independent variables, the dependent variables being recall and two types of transfer skill. Multiple regression analysis showed the interaction…

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both suggest a complexity continuum for cognitive performance tasks which, in the radex model, corresponds to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses. The bases for this continuum indicate its importance for theories of intelligence. (Author/RD)

Compared the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of college freshmen in 1969 and 1979. Results showed the class of 1983 (tested in 1979) obtained lower Scholastic Aptitude scores but higher scores on certain measures of study habits and attitudes. Differences in verbal aptitude between men and women may have narrowed. (JAC)

Students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine were surveyed using an inventory of problems and concerns relating to their personal and academic lives. The survey revealed that among chief student concerns are a lack of personal freedom, excessive academic pressures, and feelings of dehumanization. (Editor/LBH)