Demonstrates that 11-year-old children's scientific thinking in formal operational terms can be significantly developed through training in the cognitive style of field independence determined by the Group Embedded Figures Test. Suggests students could perform formal operationally if they had the skill of identifying the variables to be…

Changes in functioning related to aging were examined over a 3- to 4-year period in 34 adults (ages 22-56) with Down syndrome. Changes related to aging were minimal; neither effects of age at entry nor change over time were significant. IQ at entry significantly affected performance on neuropsychological and behavioral measures. (Author/SW)

Examines the implications of incorporating user-centered design within information systems design practices. Highlights include a definition of user-centered design based on human-computer interface; questions asked about users, including outcome, process, and task variables; and three criteria for when to use this approach in information systems…

Analytical solutions for point and variance estimators of the mediated effect, the ratio of mediated to direct effect, and the proportion of the total effect mediated were determined through simulation for different samples. The sample sizes needed for accuracy and stability are discussed with implications for mediated effects estimates. (SLD)

Reports on research studying student teachers that finds five major categories of characteristics (motivation, priorities, effort, self-concept, and personal effectiveness) that may help predict the success of teacher education students. (SR)

This study used a sampling of empirical data from public libraries to examine organizational characteristics (i.e., specialization, horizontal differentiation, vertical differentiation, professionalism, administrative intensity, organizational slack, and organizational size) and performance levels of three groups of organizations delineated…

Nine years of data from first-time nurse candidates taking the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) were examined to identify predictors of successful performance and determine probabilities of success. Variables placing nurse candidates at risk included first-semester grade point average, sex, and whether they…

Investigates predictors of college students' intent to join alumni chapters after graduation. Finds such intentions especially strong where respondents identified with university facets similar to alumni relations, reported or had thought of involving university-related accomplishments and activities, and saw alumni relations as instrumental in…

Adaptive forms of weighted structural regression are developed and discussed. Bootstrapping studies indicate that the new methods have potential to recover known population regression weights and predict criterion score values routinely better than do ordinary least squares methods. The new methods are scale free and simple to compute. (SLD)

Compared scores on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) to examine their ability to predict academic success of student-athletes. Findings from 105 incoming first-year athletes revealed that noncognitive variables were better predictors of grades for athletes than were SAT scores. Suggests that athletes be considered…

Young adults with learning disabilities were divided into two groups: successful (n=29) and unsuccessful (n=21). Variables discriminating the groups (verbal intelligence quotient, length of enrollment, and math achievement discrepancy) did not accurately predict group membership. Qualitative analyses revealed personal attitudes and behaviors and…

Two studies analyzed the effects of preceding setting events on the problem behavior of 2 students (ages 20 and 22) with severe disabilities. Results indicated that the occurrence of preceding setting events was related to higher frequencies of problem behavior, and interventions designed to eliminate preceding setting events were consistently…

This study of the automatic word and sign recognition of 66 hearing and deaf adults found that responding in sign took longer and created more Stroop interference than responding orally, independent of hearing status. Deaf subjects showed greater automaticity in recognizing signs than words, whereas hearing subjects showed greater automaticity in…

Controlling for early sensorimotor differences, found that high levels of distress and anger expressed by children at age three months predicted low cognitive scores at four years. Controlling for early emotional and sensorimotor differences, found that high levels of maternal responsiveness in the same group of children predicted high cognitive…

Finds that current-affairs knowledge among journalism students was correlated to newspaper use but that, when student self-efficacy was taken into account, newspaper use no longer served as a robust predictor of current-affairs knowledge. (SR)