Reviews problems with early survey research methods. Recent studies are examined in terms of characteristics of the stimuli and contexts, and characteristics of the perceivers employed in them. Methodological and conceptual issues in these three categories are used to organize the body of research that exists. (Author)

This article showed that students demonstrate individual differences in their composition of text. It was found that noncontingent students tended to write more creative essays and used more text-creative or schema-creative propositions in composing their descriptions than did the other two register groups (imitative and contingent). (Author/GK)

Investigated proposal that, in an unstructured small-group training situation, participants with dominant behavioral characteristics learn more than other members. Studied two such groups. Established personality tendencies by analyzing verbal behavior. Used two measures of learning level: the Problem Expression Scale and group members' ratings.…

Compared women in nontraditional fields of study with women in traditional fields over four years. Data indicated that women in nontraditional fields had higher ACT scores and degree expectations, felt better prepared in math, had higher high school grades in math, and came from higher family-income levels. (Author/RC)

Describes aspects of Guided Design, a recent instructional strategy designed to teach process skills, in which students engage in the decision-making process to devise solutions for a series of open-ended problems. (CS)

Forty-five brief papers cover four areas: research integration methodology; standard curriculum topics in educational research and evaluation; individual differences and special programs suited to particular groups of students; and programs of research integration being conducted by the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle and the National…

A longitudinal research strategy was employed to explore the developmental changes in the self-concept of 260 preadolescent girls from three different ethnic groups over a three-year period. (Author/MP)

The development of programing for the gifted and the culturally diverse follows the same general developmental sequence: awareness, recognition, appreciation, acceptance, and affirmation. A gifted program model, based on the recognition of individual differences, enrichment, and self-actualization through counseling, can be effectively applied…

Discusses recent developments in instructional psychology relative to cognitive task analysis, individual difference variables, and cognitive models of interactive instructional decision making, which use constructs developed within the field of cognitive/information processing psychology. (Author/WBC)

Reviews psychometic studies of human spatial ability and studies of environmental, genetic, hormonal, and neurological influences that interact in producing individual variation in spatial test scores. (MP)

Groups of extrovert, ambivert, and introvert children, aged 8, saw pictures with a taped commentary about each. On an immediate recall test, extroverts recalled most if given the commentary before the picture, introverts did best when the picture came first, and ambiverts performed similarly in both conditions. (Author/SJL)

The amount of conceptual convergence for concepts of nine objects in elementary school children was investigated. Findings revealed substantial convergence on core meanings within and among age groups, and a steady expansion of meaning with age and experience, especially between grades one and three. (Author/MH)

Shows how the proposed model (an individualized competency based learning system) can be used effectively to produce a course in accounting principles which adapts to different entering competencies and to different rates and styles of learning. (TA)

Defines early literacy in terms of literate language, a register of language typified by verbally explicated meaning and talk about talk. Explores various social arrangements which support children's use of literate language. Examines the roles of diverse and close social contacts, and the ways in which individual differences mediate these…

The Early Childhood Project is a longitudinal investigation of contexts in which children from different sociocultural groups learn to read. Data collected from 41 families showed some consistency between parental beliefs on fostering reading development (entertainment versus skills perspective) and nature of experiences made available to…