This book takes readers through the steps that school personnel encounter in planning and developing a middle school. Chapter 1 outlines the rationale, origin, advantages, functions, and tasks of a middle school, along with setting parameters for its unique identity. Chapter 2 identifies the target population, emerging adolescents, and their…

This longitudinal study analyzed the relationship between structure and content of socio-moral reasoning. Using a system that defines independently the cognitive organizational and content aspects of socio-moral reasoning, the study examined whether persons at different developmental levels make use of different content categories, and whether the…

This study explored the themes in children's fiction with the subject of an alcoholic parent and evaluated the treatment of the subject in novels from the 1960s and the 1980s. It was hypothesized that, compared to writings from the 1960s, writings from the 1980s would more often contain references to the disease concept of alcoholism, would more…

Two experiments tested Hasher and Zacks' (1984) age-invariance hypothesis of frequency memory, which proposed that frequency memory is fully developed when a minimal level of physiological maturation is reached (by two or three years of age). Participating in the first experiment were 24 subjects at each of three ages: 8 years, 11 years, and young…

This report describes North Carolina's Therapeutic Camping Program, an alternative treatment process for children between the ages of 10 and 15 who have behavioral problems and/or who are in conflict with the law. The program serves children who cannot function in a normal community, school, or family setting. This report describes the Therapeutic…

This curriculum unit provides educators with 10 lessons designed to make sexuality education culturally relevant for Latino youth in grades five through eight. While affirming the traditions and characteristics of Latino families and cultures, this structured curriculum introduces sexuality as a lifelong process that goes beyond physical intimacy.…

There has been virtually no investigation of the differences between male and female responses to unjust conditions. This study is a meta-analysis of those studies investigating the conditions under which individuals will assume responsibility for lower outcomes under unjust discriminatory practices. Three conditions were investigated which…

Using a longitudinal data set obtained from 169 pre-adolescent children between the ages of 8 and 13 years, this study statistically divided locus of control into two independent components. The first component was noted as "age-dependent" (AD) and was determined by predicted values generated by regressing children's ages onto their…

This longitudinal study responds to a need for new perspectives and research tools for studying school transition stress by identifying changes in student role strains and assessing sex differences in these changes during the transition from elementary school to a middle school for grades six through eight. Subjects included 120 fifth-grade…

This document is a workbook for preteens and teenagers between the ages of 11 and 15 that discusses relationships, dating, sexuality, and contraception. It focuses on building self-esteem and decision-making, encouraging teenagers to think through decisions they face about relationships and themselves. Workpages, which feature various types of…

This study attempted to induce empathy toward a hypothetical individual in an effort to reduce aggressive responses directed toward him. Forty fourth grade volunteer boys from two Michigan public schools were administered the Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents to determine pre-existing empathic potential (EP). Subjects were matched for…

Three procedures were used to elicit information from children 9-10 and 13-14 years old on their conceptions of war: (1) children were asked to give at least 10 answers to the question, "What is war?"; (2) each child was interviewed individually; and (3) children were asked to respond to magazine pictures of war scenes. The detailed and…

Improvement in self-concept may facilitate improvement in other areas such as learning and achievement. If the self-concept is formed through experiences with the environment, interactions with significant others, and attributions of one's own behavior, then the classroom atmosphere may be influential in the development of a positive or negative…

Data obtained under naturalistic conditions do not support the notion of a close fit between the growth of geometric concepts during the concrete operational period and "realism" in art. Realism here refers to the ability to portray the objective proportions of a figure, to coordinate spatial relations and distances, and to represent a…

Presents a case report of cysticercosis (a parasitic infestation which results in inflammation of the brain, eye, muscles, liver, and lung tissues) and the resulting language pathology in a nine-year-old Mexican American girl who is bilingual in Spanish and English. (SED)