Older and younger adults' abilities to use context information rapidly during ambiguity resolution were investigated. In Experiments 1 and 2, younger and older adults heard ambiguous words (e.g., fires) in sentences where the preceding context supported either the less frequent or more frequent meaning of the word. Both age groups showed good…

The problem of dimensionality with respect to Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) specifically and, more generally, "g" or fluid intelligence, has been a long-standing issue. The present article reports two studies examining the dimensionality of both the original Set II of the APM (n = 506) and a short form (n = 644), using principal…

This study was designed to examine the links between parenting, children's perceptions of family relationships, and children's social behavior. Seventy-four children (M age = 6.01 years; 39 boys; 35 girls) and their parents took part in the study. Children completed relationship-oriented doll stories that were coded for coherence, prosocial…

Adult educators employed in steel mill career development programs offer the field a unique glimpse into the relationship between context and career trajectories. This article explores the lives of these adult educators against the backdrop of contemporary theories of career development, situated learning, and continuing professional development…

When carrying out investigative work in the primary school, one often considers how familiar the children are with the context. This usually means considering the practical and life experiences the children have already had. However, it is also valuable to consider the children's literary experiences. Think about all the stories, novels, folk…

Considering geological time as an important epistemological obstacle to the construction of ideas on biological evolution, a study was carried out on the so-called "Darwin Papers". The conclusion was that Charles Darwin's excursion in the Andes during March-April 1835 was a crucial step in this regard. An expedition was carried out in…

This article investigates the dynamic overall picture concerning the development of local curriculum in Thailand through action research conducted by 27 Thai elementary school teachers in three private schools in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province. This was the teachers' first experience with action research. The article examines the following…

Improving library technologies allow patrons greater autonomy. One such technology, self-checkout kiosks, puts patrons in virtual control over their circulation experience. Whereas previously patrons had to approach circulation staff to check out, now this can be done privately. The impact self-checkout has on the circulation of potentially…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the influence of context on interaction patterns used by mothers who are homeless with their preschool children during book-reading and game-playing activities. The impact of mothers' previously determined language functioning on their contextual use of facilitating language…

This paper examines the extent to which self-assessed intelligence (SAI) may be a function of personality traits, gender, and "actual" intellectual ability (as measured through psychometric g) in a sample of 188 (119 female) UK university students. Participants completed three cognitive ability tests and the "Big Five"…

Research on tokenism processes is reviewed and coalesces around two conclusions. First, gender constructs different social contexts for token women and for token men. Second, gender is most usefully conceptualized as a status variable, not something internal to the individual. Gender serves as a status marker such that women's subordinated status…

With the growing application of modern genetic technology to everyday healthcare provision, concern over its moral defence is increasing. This paper discusses pre-natal genetic testing, currently the healthcare situation in which the technology is most frequently applied. In doing this it addresses the justification for the resulting marked…

This article presents case studies of the social shaping of the national union catalog (NUC) in seven countries (four in Central and Eastern Europe, two in the Baltic region, and South Africa). The purpose is to illustrate how technology developments do not occur independently of their social context but rather are co-constituted by the…

To study elementary school principals' understandings and enactments of instructional leadership, we collected data through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and in-school observations. Three categories captured principals' conceptualizations of instructional leadership: curriculum expertise, formal delivery of professional…

With the growing acknowledgement of the importance of pragmatic competence in second language (L2) learning, language researchers have identified the comprehension of speech acts as they occur in natural conversation as essential to communicative competence (e.g. Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Thomas, 1983). Nonconventional indirect speech acts are formed…