Noting evidence of continuity and progression in young children' thinking, this book explores the promotion of high-quality thinking and action in children ages 3 to 5 years. Some thoughts about children from birth to 3 years and from 5 to 8 years of age are also included as part of the discussion of continuity in teaching and learning. Throughout…

Analysis of the discourse in an informal interview with a 14-year-old, female, Australian high school student takes a feminist poststructuralist perspective, applying concepts from ethnomethodology. In the course of talking about her social world, the subject articulates two distinct discourses of adolescent femininity. As an observable…

Available data on Canadian and U.S. student drinking patterns are compared. Among the factors and implications discussed are prevalency and volume of drinking, its relation to other drug use, negative behavioral consequences, student characteristics, attitudes, motivation, and the influence of home, high school, and college environment in…

Presents a continuation of previous research on a general development process consisting of successive levels in conceptualization. Explores how young children conceptualize the writing system. Considers both social background and preschool system of education. Concludes that teaching activities used in French nursery schools are less effective…

Studies relationships between reported parental behavior and depressive tendencies, self-esteem, and ego development for 53 young women attending college in New Delhi (India) and 50 in New Haven (Connecticut). Results are discussed in terms of differing patterns of transmitting expectations to daughters in the two cultures. (SLD)

The utility of teacher ratings of student academic performance and psychosocial behaviors as technically sound indirect measures of student outcomes was demonstrated in a long-term study of the effects of background variables on a cohort of Danish children (n=350). The Baker-Mednick Teacher Rating Form was developed for this purpose. (SLD)

Sensitivity to verbal and nonverbal communication was rated in brief samples of behavior by the following groups in Israel: (1) 39 fourth graders; (2) 37 seventh graders; (3) 33 tenth graders; (4) 23 teachers-in-training; and (5) 19 experienced elementary school teachers. Both students and teachers could detect differential expectancy information.…

This study examined discourse strategies used by males and females to convey embarrassing information to interlocutors of unequal status and unspecified gender. Subjects were 80 native speakers of Turkish (28 males, 52 females), from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and geographic areas. Data were derived from a written discourse completion…

In the study of students' achievement behavior, it has been argued that learning goals that emphasize self-improvement rather than outperforming others are more desirable. This study examined how students' learning goal orientations were related to their theories of intelligence (e.g., whether intelligence is inborn). The subjects were 400 Chinese…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 35 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) television and scholastic achievement; (2) press freedom and the new world information order; (3) content analysis of Saturday morning children's television…

This study attempts to identify potential school problems in preschool children in order to facilitate the provision of relevant information for systematic screening and early guidance. Data from the first 14 months (to the end of the preschool period) of a longitudinal study extending from 4 1/2 years of age to the end of second grade are…

This paper presents a study of the educational problems of the Skolt Lapp children living in Finland. (The Skolt Lapps have a distinctively different culture from the rest of the Finnish people.) The study was designed to define: (1) to what degree cultural factors affect the educational readiness (intellectual functions, school motivation, and…

This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series focuses on attention difficulties in young children and is directed to parents, child caregivers, and others interested in the care and education of young children. The booklet describes behaviors and characteristics common in children with attention difficulties,…

Effects of mothers' need for approval on children's expectancies for success and persistence during failure were studied for 90 fifth graders attempting to solve 4 puzzles, 3 of which were unsolvable. Parental and situational variables affect children's achievement cognitions and behavior. Implications for parental socialization of achievement are…

Cross-nationally compares dimensions of psychosocial environment and behavior and environment-behavior relations for 202 boys and 217 girls in India, rated by their mothers, to a U.S. normative sample of 292 boys and 252 girls. Similar dimensions of behavior and environment emerge for both samples. (SLD)