A study was undertaken to explore how elementary school children employ help seeking as a means of problem solving in the classroom. High-, average-, and low-ability students at the first-, third-, and fifth-grade levels were targeted for in-depth observation. A "focal-child" observational procedure was used to gather data on naturally…

To ascertain changes in cognitive correlates of learning as students advance through hierarchical instruction, 24 individual difference measures were obtained from 166 Navy trainees who had completed a computer-managed course in electricity and electronics. Principal component analysis and varimax rotation were computed for cognitive…

College officials often assume that college students of the 1980's are radically different from their counterparts in the 1960's and 1970's, but attitude change is rarely measured. To study perceptions of peer group attitudes over the past decade, the responses of 310 white, incoming University of Maryland freshmen were compared to those of 204…

Reports a series of studies conducted to investigate possible differences in the exploratory manipulation and play behavior of human infants 7-1/2- 11-1/2 months of age as a function of the attributes of the stimulus, the familiarity of the subject with the stimuli, the age and sex of the infants, and individual differences. (Author/CS)

Preschool and first-grade children's story production was studied. Participants were 96 children who were asked to relate stories about two familiar events: baking cookies and taking a trip to the beach. Story events were depicted in line drawings in a coloring book. Half the sample was assigned to a preview condition in which children narrated…

This paper emphasizes the importance of music as an integral part of the education of the young child, and draws attention to a few ways in which parents and teachers can contribute to children's musical development. Sections of the paper focus on seven questions: (1) Is music really universal? (2) When should musical training begin? (3) When…

Addressing two issues of Dweck and Leggett's (1988) social cognitive theory of personality, this short-term longitudinal field study investigated the relationship between implicit theories about the self and school anxiety among adolescents making the transition to junior high school. It was hypothesized that students who believed that their…

The training of computer users is becoming increasingly important to all industrialized nations. This study examined how individual differences (e.g. ability and gender) may affect learning outcomes when acquiring computer skills. Subjects (N=347) were college students who took a computer literacy course from a college of business administration…

The relationship between secondary school professional staff perceptions of school climate and their respective personalities is examined in this study. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire-Rutgers Secondary (OCDQ-RS) and the Heath Typology Assessment Instrument (HTAI) were administered to 232 secondary teachers to assess…

A review of the literature on strategies used by students to learn a second language suggests that the research can offer important insights into teaching learners who do not naturally arrive at successful learning strategies. Raising students' consciousness to the options for language learning is seen as crucial. It is also proposed that learner…

This paper examines cognitive processing problems associated with attention deficit disorders (ADD) and their relationship to learning disabilities in elementary and secondary students. Children with ADD, medicated (N=20) and unmedicated (N=21), were compared on the Raven test of Progressive Matrices and other tests with children who had been…

This digest describes academic creativity and offers suggestions for its development in gifted students. Creative learning and learning by authority are contrasted and examples of each are given. The naturally creative behavior of young children is noted. Among suggestions offered to teachers are: respect the unusual questions of children; show…

The first of a series of four, this booklet is designed to interest and involve 9- to 11-year-olds in learning about human development. "Fun to Grow On" focuses specifically on helping elementary school children share and enjoy some simple activities with preschool children. The activities are intended to teach older children that (1) each person…

While individualized learning strategies typically provide large amounts of instructional support, they also reply heavily on learner judgement to determine the amount of support required to achieve an objective. Frequently, these strategies result in high achievers selecting too much support and low achievers selecting too little. Interest in…

Research involving eye movement monitoring can help in understanding the nature of the mental processes involved in reading, how these develop as one learns to read, and what processing strategies or characteristics are more common in those children who fail to show normal progress in learning to read. First, eye movement records show that the…