Preschool children were observed in a natural setting in order to examine the continuity of their play styles over a period of one year. Changes in play styles appeared to be affected by peer or teacher intervention. In particular, male peer groups effectively shaped male sex-typed behavior even when they engaged in play activities not…

Visually impaired students can be given effective career counseling if attention is paid to five essential elements: (1) exposure to the world of work; (2) job aspirations; (3) knowledge of job availability; (4) daily living and social skills; and (5) resources. (SK)

Carried out a principal axes factor analysis on the Improvisation Test for Individuals, a roleplaying technique for assessing interpersonal styles in adults. A structure of five factors, basically supported by subsequent oblique rotations, was identified as: Interpersonal Involvement, Task-oriented Assertiveness, Relationship-oriented…

In a study of teacher trainees' personality characteristics related to pupil control, humanistically oriented educators tended to be emotionally stable, expedient, positive, imaginative, venturesome, relaxed and had high self-concepts. Authoritarian educators were more affected by feelings, conscientious, sober, practical, shy, reserved, tense and…

Assessed the immediate and long-term impact of the Couple Communication Program. Married couples (N=17) were assigned to training groups. Change was assessed using self-report measures of marital adjustment and communication quality along with behavioral ratings of couple verbal interaction. Couples increased significantly on all measures at…

Evaluated the effectiveness of a U.S. General Accounting Office communications training program. Employees who underwent training reported more positive attitudes about communication skills and performed better on knowledge and recognition assessments, otherwise the relative amount of change on the measures was not very large. (Author)

A model is presented to demonstrate that systematic evaluation by design or planned, purposeful evaluation of recreational programs is possible. The evaluation model concepts of control group, randomization, and pretest and posttest are explained. (JN)

A study attempted to develop an instrument for assessing social integration of ethnic groups in the classroom. Sociometric questionnaires were used to ask second-grade students to choose classmates whose company they most preferred. Preliminary findings indicate that gender is a more divisive factor within the classroom than ethnicity. (JN)

Self-help groups of elderly persons (N=42), who had been blind for several years, met by phone for short-term problem solving and discussion of coping methods. Results indicated task-centered assignments helped the majority meet their goal of decreasing feelings of hopelessness and increasing social activities outside of the home. (Author)

Teaching written communication in a secondary school foreign language class requires the creation of an authentic psycho-sociocultural environment. Given this environment, four types of activity are outlined: letter writing, writing advertisements and announcements, various types of forms to be filled in, and exercises arising from a learning need…

Studied whether there are positive relationships between student perception of instructor empathy and perceived learning outcomes. Students (N=615) in an interpersonal communication class responded to questionnaires in two succeeding quarters. Data analysis supported previous research that empathic teacher behavior facilitates more meaningful…

Concludes that handicapped children are deficient in listener-adapted communication but that mainstreaming provides an opportunity to improve these skills, especially as age increases. Mainstreamed handicapped children, however, still do not reach the level of communicative skills of nonhandicapped children. (PD)

Presents an outline of 10 of the most important student skills needed in the social studies classroom. These skills include reading, writing, listening, speaking, map reading, critical thinking and problem solving, organizing, evaluating, social interacting, and observing. (KC)

The Statements about Schools Inventory, designed to assess how well a school is satisfying the needs of its students, has gathered evidence that alternative schools come closer to satisfying student needs than do conventional schools. (Author/WD)

Procedures for programing computers to deal with handicapped students, problems in selective attention, visual discrimination, reaction time differences, short term memory, transfer and generalization, recognition of mistakes, and social skills are discussed. (CL)