This narrative review examines contemporary perspectives on positive adjustment in children and proposes a developmental-ecological perspective as one theoretical lens through which to view positive school adjustment. Critiques the empirical literature on contextual factors contributing to school satisfaction, one marker of positive school…

Examines introductory genres and their various realizations, conventionally used to introduce academic books and variously named as "introduction,""preface,""acknowledgement," and "publishers blurb" to investigate their nature, function, and structure within the context of current theory in genre analysis…

Defines higher order learning and its component parts, and describes how it can be taught. Argues that effective strategy training interventions use multicomponent interventions, embed strategy training interventions, offer practice of higher-order skills within the context of existing curricula, explain the utility of different cognitive and…

Elaborates on some issues in the debate between Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental approach and a narrative, relativistic, approach to studies of moral development. Reviews the concept of self in both approaches, ideas on the Cartesian rationality underlying Kohlberg's theories, and the reliance of the self on language in narrative approaches.…

Suggests that Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental approach and narrative, relativistic, approaches to moral development--which are seemingly opposed--may be integrated, each addressing an aspect of moral concerns. Explains how the approaches may address different aspects of theories of self, stresses the need for better interpretive rationale in…

Examines personal preferences in the development of categorical folders for bookmarks in terms of both the choice and definition of folder domain and the overall structure of the folder system. Considers contextual factors, such as intended use and relevancy to current projects; and navigational preferences. (Author/LRW)

Investigated the relationship between the school context and teachers' views of themselves as professionals. Israeli vocational high school teachers, who taught high- and low-achieving students, matched images of themselves as teachers with drawings of other occupations and commented on their choices. These metaphors helped raise teachers'…

Draws on research in cultural anthropology and cultural psychology to place the current movement toward qualitative methods of inquiry in historical perspective. Asserts that a new methodology of achievement motivation--one that seeks to identify the cultural and personal meanings of educational performance through methods that clarify its…

Three experiments tested 3- and 4-year-olds' use of abstract principles to classify and label objects by shape or function. Findings indicated that 4-year-olds readily adopted either rule when instructed to match objects by shape or function, but 3-year-olds followed only the shape rule. Without a rule, 4-year-olds tended to match by shape unless…

Investigated: (1) influence of maternal context on frequency and types of conflicts of sibling dyads in middle childhood, and (2) the stability of maternal and sibling interaction over 4 years. Found that maternal presence depressed conflict frequency and aggression. Earlier patterns of family interaction were related to later indices of sibling…

Examines ways in which the North American experience has influenced youth mentoring programs in the United Kingdom and focuses on the theoretical assumptions about young people which have underpinned mentoring interventions. Suggests that alternative theoretical frameworks which address the complexity and multiplicity of youth transitions hold…

Notes that when making requests, speakers often pursue an influence goal and a secondary goal. Examines whether effects of situation features on the importance of secondary goals depend on the kind of request being made. Finds the effect of situation features on the importance of secondary goals often depends on request type. Suggests implications…

Tracks the language preferences of three French/English bilingual children, twin girls aged 13 and a boy aged 15, over a 72-month period. Using weekly tape recorded conversations of family dinnertime conversations both in the children's Louisiana home, and a summer residence in French-speaking Quebec, the bilingual authors--who are also the…

Using Erikson's theories on identity development as a framework, this paper examines the motives for and contexts of suicide among preadolescents, adolescents, and young adults, identifies specific school-age populations that are vulnerable to suicide, and discusses implications. (Contains 45 references.) (GCP)

Mezirow's theory of transformational learning--extraction of meaning from experience--fails to account for context. Locating perspective transformation in the individual and basing it on a decontextualized concept of rationality ignores the relationship between individuals and the sociocultural, political, and historical contexts in which they are…