Problem solving in adventure programs contains physical, social, philosophical, and transcendent (insightful) elements. Through transcendent experiences students reach a high level of performance, tolerance, and understanding. Instructors often attempt to facilitate transcendent experiences through such activities as the Native American…

Camp staff can remove prejudices from camp by acknowledging their own personal biases, understanding and accepting diversity, developing a deep understanding of existing differences, and internalizing changed beliefs. Camps should strive to be multicultural organizations that reflect the contributions and interests of diverse cultural and social…

The 1994 Kurt Hahn Award recipient and president of the American Youth Foundation discusses essential elements for personal and systemic change, including creativity (which provides energy and direction), character (which defines who we are), and commitment (which requires accountability), all of which enable individuals and organizations to…

Suggests ways to enhance the processing of adventure-based experiences by making participants aware of their responses when they reach the edge of their own comfort zone. Participants can use this information to generalize the learning experience to home, school, and office situations. (LP)

On campus as in society, male-centered paradigms of sex role and identity are being challenged. A relationship-centered model of psychological development is currently of great interest. Areas of conflict between male and female students include stereotypes and political correctness, violence and rape, hostility toward women, the economy,…

Compared outcomes of college as perceived by African-American and white alumni in the affective or personal growth categories. An analysis of responses to an alumni survey revealed that, for affective growth variables, proportionally more African Americans than whites indicated that college had influenced their growth "very much." (Author/NB)

Intellectually gifted senior high school students (94 girls and 75 boys) were given the Learning Preference Scale. The cooperative learning style was not significantly more preferred for any subject matter nor was it significantly related to higher achievement outcome. In mathematics, boys preferred both the individualistic and competitive styles…

In contrast to earlier notions, a systems view of an organism's development sees genes as only one component in a hierarchy of influences that produces finished traits and differentiation. Developmental canalization proceeds from genes, behavior, and environment as well as from the coaction of these factors. (BC)

Notes that psychologists' interest in behavioral development concerns individual differences in behavior. Explores complexities of genetic and environmental determination of development, and of canalization. Intelligence is considered as an example of the canalization of human behavior. (BC)

A sample of seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders generated self-descriptors for the role of the self in the classroom, with friends, with parents, and in romantic relationships. Findings revealed that the self becomes increasingly differentiated into role-related multiple selves with age. (GLR)

The Stigma of Giftedness Paradigm served as the theoretical framework to develop a questionnaire which examined the school-based social cognition of 465 gifted adolescents. The model (which focuses on effect of the gifted label on adolescent wishes for normal social interactions) was found to aid in understanding the psychosocial development of…

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine conducts an off-campus retreat for medical residents, in which the instructional focus is on the humanities and particularly difficult medical and ethical issues. Students have found the format beneficial both personally and professionally, valuing involvement of senior faculty, the programs'…

In this interview, the president of Radcliffe College discusses her own development as one of the nation's higher education leaders and reflects on the identification and development of emerging leaders and talent development of women. (DB)

This study examined the receptive vocabulary of 102 first-, third-, and sixth-grade Spanish/English bilingual students of Hispanic origin. It found that, although students in all three grade levels functioned comparably well on the Spanish instruments, performance on the English instruments increased with grade level. (41 references) (MDM)

A survey of 26,516 alumni representing 120 colleges and universities assessed former students' satisfaction with their bachelor's degrees in 3 areas (personal growth, continuing education, job preparation) and by 4 subgroups (by gender, institution type/size, years since graduation, major). Results are reported, and ways to incorporate findings…