A rational model of human categorization behavior is presented that assumes that categorization reflects the derivation of optimal estimates of the probability of unseen features of objects. A case is made that categorization behavior can be predicted from the structure of the environment. (SLD)

Twenty-two second grade students in Cambridge (Massachusetts) were asked to rate pictures of nature items and artifacts on a seven-point scale ranging from "maleness" to "femaleness." Responses overall showed a female-nature and male-artifact association. Discusses the role of such associations in the development of gender…

Applies a taxonomic principle to analyze the gradual elaboration of any language or sign system as a technology of communication rather than the reflection of a specialized language faculty or cluster of language faculties. (Author/CB)

Mysteries of the biological past that paleontologists are trying to solve are discussed. Topics include first seeds, fossils and computers, packrat middens, charcoal clues, soft parts, Burgess shale, halkieriids, toe count, whales with feet, long necks, and changing functions. (KR)

Discusses helping students understand cases and classes through knowledge modeling. Discusses classification and human cognition, and classification and pictorial knowledge models. Provides classroom extension activities. (SR)

Discusses the use of lists and classification in poetry throughout history. Gives examples of lists in verse from Elizabethan to modern times. Offers some basic types and functions of the "list poem." Relates the lists poems of a fourth grade class. (PRA)

Commends journalist William Raspberry for urging less testing and sorting, more cooperation, and less competition in schools. Congress, under pressure to force schools to produce results and get rewards, should heed this columnist's advice. Although school boards are resisting an AASA measure (H.R. 3320) to reform local and state education…

This study examined the impact of maternal labeling of children as gifted on the sibling relationship in 144 pairs of firstborn and secondborn siblings classified as both gifted, firstborn gifted, secondborn gifted, or neither gifted. Five aspects of the sibling relationship were examined: warmth/closeness, status/power, conflict, maternal…

A total of 12 professional caregivers and 35 2- and 3-year olds participated in a study to determine caregivers' influence on the competence of preschoolers. Caregivers assisted children while the children performed classification tasks. Found that the sex of the children and the working conditions of the caregivers influenced children's task…

Outlines a cognitive process model of abstracting, indexing, and classification that is based on text comprehension processes. Text comprehension for indexing versus other purposes is discussed, including conceptual and perceptual processing; conceptual knowledge and the development of expertise are discussed; and characteristics of short-term and…

Identifies fundamental questions in the design, selection, and assessment of activities that need further scholarly attention, reviews recent findings, and offers a conceptual analysis and a list of principles as a potential tool for constructing and assessing curricular activities. (CJS)

Describes the economic and societal perspectives of information and its importance to society by analyzing the nature of the information sector. A new classification model of the information economy is proposed, and implications for policy decision making in an information society are suggested. (25 references) (LRW)

College undergraduates (N=136) studied a hierarchical plant classification system using a figural taxonomy or a pictorial mnemonomy. Mnemonomy students outperformed taxonomy students on (1) immediate and five-day delayed measures of classification system construction and use; and (2) a test that required solving analogies involving plant terms.…

Discusses the use of story models for hypertext design. Relevant research is reviewed; interactive fiction is examined; advantages of the story format in instructional design are described; and a taxonomy of five types of story structures for hypertext design is presented. (Contains 56 references.) (LRW)

Less emphasis should be placed on numbers of disabled people employed and more on their equitable distribution within organizations. An affirmative action model categorizing jobs as nonable-body dominated and able-body dominated would distinguish types of disability and reduce structural barriers to employment. (SK)