Three experiments assessed children's abilities to track behavioral, representational, and truth aspects of conventions. Three- and 4-year-olds recognized that conventional stipulations would change behavior, but not how stipulations might affect representations. Three- and 5-year-olds confused pretenses and conventions; 7-year-olds consistently…

Describes a laboratory study that examined the extent to which group gender composition affected group brainstorming performance in a computerized group support system (GSS) environment. Theory and research related to group gender composition and GSS is reviewed, and results indicate that gender composition did not affect group brainstorming…

Four experiments examined 8-month-olds' ability to reason about collections of objects. Findings suggested that infants' expectations about object behavior do not automatically apply to any and all portions of matter within the visual field. The behavior of an entity and infants' prior experience played roles in determining whether infants will…

Two experiments examined age differences in children's dual-task performance. Findings indicated that when capacity for single-task performance was controlled, age differences between second and fifth graders did not exist in performance of dual-tasks of equal priority. When tasks had different priorities, only fifth graders could differentially…

Investigated 3-year-olds' understanding of the appearance-reality distinction using verbal response and nonverbal response paradigms in 4 experiments. Found that about 30 percent of children were correct in verbal paradigm; over 90 percent of same children were correct in nonverbal paradigm. Participating in the verbal paradigm impeded children's…

A study assessed the effectiveness of using objects of obsession as token reinforcers to increase task performance of three children (ages 7-9) with autism. Results indicated that percentage correct on task performance was higher when objects of obsession were used as tokens as opposed to when typical tokens were used. (Author/CR)

Discusses the benefits of each of three types of roofing systems: built-up roofing (BUR); modified bitumen; and a combination of BUR and modified bitumen. Roof performance, performance maximization, and inspection and maintenance issues are addressed. A brief glossary of commercial roofing terms is included. (GR)

Describes the steps involved in a performance improvement program in the context of a large multinational corporation. Highlights include a training program for managers that explained performance improvement; performance matrices; divisionwide implementation, including strategic planning; organizationwide training of all personnel; and the…

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding both positive and negative anxiety, drawing on perspectives from existential philosophy and an artistic metaphor in musical performance to examine the implications for creative teaching. Discusses the positive side of anxiety and its corollary, self-knowledge. (Author/SLD)

Examines three views of performance improvement--scientific management, instructional design, and systems thinking--each providing a unique view of performance improvement and specific roles for evaluation. Provides an integrated definition of performance and a synthesis model that encompasses the three views. (AEF)

Two experiments examined children's ability to understand and produce graphic symbols for social communication. Found that 2-year-olds did not effectively produce symbols or use an experimenter's symbols. Three- and 4-year-olds improved their symbols after use in social communication and performed above chance with the experimenter's symbol;…

Two studies examined preschoolers' appreciation of how mental states arise. Findings suggest that 3- and 5-year-olds better understood perception-generated beliefs and attitude-generated desires than physiology-generated desires. Four- and 5-year-olds better understood the effects of quantity of experience than of time of experience on…

Discusses knowledge management that seeks to minimize information overload in order to enhance performance. Highlights include the differences between data, information, and knowledge; the relationship between learning, knowledge, and performance; the use of focus groups; documenting results; and knowledge classification. (LRW)

Examined 7- to 10-year-olds' ability to acquire a domain-general processing strategy--Control of Variables Strategy (CVS)-- and make valid inferences. Found that with explicit training within domains and probe questions, children could learn and transfer the CVS. Probes without direct instruction did not improve CVS and inferential thinking…

Compared the power of two memory tasks to predict performance of 7- and 8-year-olds' on 2 phonological awareness measures. Found that the sound categorization had higher working memory demands than the phoneme deletion task. Working memory predicted independent variance only for sound categorization. Short-term memory did not account for…