Three studies examined the ability of 8- and 9-year-olds and young adults to use sample monotonicity and diversity information according to the similarity-coverage model of category-based induction. Found that children's difficulty with this information was independent of category level, and may be based on preferences for other strategies…

Studied influence of intelligence, metacognitive attributions, and knowledge base coherence in the regulation of the category-sorting strategy in first and second graders. Knowledge base was a powerful predictor of strategic-looking behavior; metacognitive attribution was most influential in low knowledge base conditions; and intelligence had…

In two experiments, five year olds produced more instances in slot-filler categories than taxonomic categories, and eight year olds produced more instances in taxonomic categories than slot-filler categories; for five year olds, slot-filler categories led to superior recall and shorter response latencies than did taxonomic categories. (BB)

Examines children's verbal responses to music listening by interviewing 33 children in kindergarten through fifth-grade. Explains that three judges categorized their responses. Indicates judge consensus over the form and content of responses; age tendencies resulted in 3 questions; similarities between development of verbal responses to music and…

Research using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) showed that young children are usually able to sort accurately by an initial rule but are unable to switch to a new rule when the two rules conflict. In 2 experiments, the DCCS was modified to study the effects of feedback on 3- to 5-year-old children in a problem-solving task. In Experiment…

An exploration of age-related characteristics of children's personal categorizing schemes and relationships between free recall clustering (measured in reference to these schemes), and the number of items recalled. The 60 subjects were from five grade levels: 1, 4, 7, 10 and college. (Author/SDH)

This study is a preliminary attempt to characterize the development of students' conceptions of education in a comprehensive fashion. The participants were recruited from a middle class suburban school district in Michigan. Seventy students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 were interviewed about several issues related to each of the following: (1) the…

Children's performance on multidimensional classification tasks was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, preschool, first-, and third-grade children were shown a standard stimulus and were then asked to judge whether several comparison stimuli were the same as or different from the standard. Comparison stimuli differed from the standard…

This study analyzes the Object Categorization Test (OCT) and the Picture Categorization Test (PCT) to provide (1) psychometric analysis of the tests, (2) substantive analysis detailing variation in performance level as a function of age, race, class, and sex, and (3) normative data yielding frequencies of various score patterns. Data was taken…

Tested 32 4-year-olds and 32 6-year-olds for free and cued recall following either play-and-remember or sort-and-remember instructions and assessed them for their metamemory of the efficacy of conceptual and perceptual sorting strategies. Younger children recalled more items under sort-and-remember, whereas no recall differences were found for the…

Examines modification of mother-child instruction as a function of age of learner in middle childhood (six versus eight years). Instruction and learning were compared on two tasks designed to simulate school and home activities. Results show more intense instruction of all kinds for the younger children in the school task. (RH)

Most of the students in the State University System have been admitted to a program that leads to a graduate or undergraduate degree. Out of the 271,337 students in the SUS, however, 15,304, or approximately six percent, are "unclassified" students who are not formally admitted to a degree program. This percentage in fall 2003 represents…

The case is made for basing analysis of longitudinal data on each subject's curve of scores. In this analysis of IQ scores from a longitudinal study, fitted curves yielded significant error reduction, rendering untenable the doctrine of IQ constancy. A visual method of curve classification is also presented. (Author/SJL)

Determines the frequency distribution of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential variables (BAEP) for premature babies at different stages of development--normal newborns, infants, young children, and adults. The author concludes that the assumption of normality underlying most "standard" statistical analyses can be met for many BAEP…

Norman Williams' moral development theory was tested with students, ages 7, l0, l2, and l5, in Durham, England. Tentative support resulted for his classification scheme and conclusion that moral development is cumulative in nature and that it occurs within four parallel modes: expedient, altruistic, intuitive, and heteronomous. (SJL)