Examined differences in moral judgments as they relate to informational assumptions. Sixth graders, high school seniors, and college students evaluated events concerning welfare, justice, and rights and reevaluated them in light of the opposite information. The relation between evaluations and informational assumptions was significant within each…

Examines the history of middle level education. Offers suggestions to promote responsive middle level education: (1) building a knowledge base about early adolescent development; (2) assuring that organizational structures, programs, and practices function appropriately; (3) advocating the needs of early adolescents; and (4) involving middle level…

Reviews the opportunities for and obstacles to promoting independent learning at the middle grades level. Proposes the substitution of compensatory practices that discourage self-directed learning activities, such as test review handouts, with instructional practices that support independent learning activities, such as performance feedback and…

Recommends that curriculum and instruction be designed to engage students in using the tools of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Describes a curriculum framework that takes into account adolescents' language development and uses language to integrate various academic subjects. (PAM)

Explores the content of middle school reforms, focusing on how they diverge from conventional school practices, school norms, and school politics. Argues that norms of community and integration will need to replace many of the competitive, individualistic, and bureaucratic norms embedded in current practice. (Author/PAM)

Examined the impact of contextual factors on adults' and children's tendencies to hold individuals accountable for moral and legal transgressions. Subjects were 180 adults and children in the United States and Mysore, India. Indians more frequently absolved individuals of moral accountability for breaches performed under emotional duress or by…

Cognitive ability of nondiabetic children and early and late onset diabetic children was compared. Diabetic children scored in the normal range in intelligence and academic performance, but showed evidence of school difficulties and memory deficiencies. Children's perceived self-competence and parents' reports of children's functioning and…

Developed Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) and administered to 562 gifted, normal, and mildly mentally handicapped students in grades 4 through 8. Found MASC to be internally consistent measure of mathematics anxiety for grades four through eight. Found construct validity evidence based on MASC's relationship with mathematics grades,…

Designed and presented guidance study skills approach to improve academic achievement in intermediate students by increasing self-efficacy and awareness of metacognitive skills, learning strategies, and learning style information. Findings from 118 fourth graders showed that participants made improvement in all California Test of Basic Skills…

Provides rationale for and description of school-based anger coping program for aggressive children. Discusses need for school-based, preventive interventions with this population. Outlines conceptual model for this intervention and reviews relevant findings on social cognitive processes. Describes cognitive-behavioral intervention framework and…

Describes assessment and successful treatment of a preadolescent with erratic toileting behavior and related social skills difficulties. Treatment included monitoring of bowel movements, using a star chart, and applying rewards as positive reinforcement of acceptable behavior. (HTH)

Surveyed 1,340 students in grades 6 through 12 to test model of antecedents of adolescent alcohol use/misuse. Found that two largest direct effects on both adolescent alcohol use and misuse were from susceptibility to peer pressure and peer use and approval of alcohol use. Other predictors, including parental behaviors, were significant when…

Observes that poststructuralist and earlier sociological accounts of children's literature neglect the relationship between their fantasies and preferred literature. Uses Freudian arguments to study British comics aimed at boys and girls. Suggests a need for descriptive accounts and theoretical work to better understand the hold of…

Examined natural behavior contingencies as mechanisms by which peers influence children's school motivation. Found that the more students were motivated, the more likely they were to receive approval from peer-group members following active, on-task behaviors. The less students were motivated, the more they received disapproval from nonmembers…

Describes the age-related developmental issues that typically confront teachers and writers in developing and implementing educational simulation/games. Examines physical, personal and social, language, and cognitive factors. Discusses the steps taken in creating a 16-week simulation for 10- and 11-year olds. Provides a source list of games and…