This study field-tested a decision-making program for groups of 20 at-risk seventh grade students who met for 45 minutes once a week for nine weeks to learn health and physical education, math, English, social studies, science, and decision-making. One hundred and five students, some of whom served as control group by not participating in the…

Race and socioeconomic class differences in children's reading performance are influenced by social and motivational factors. For example, children from poverty backgrounds are more likely to attribute success to conditions outside personal control, and thus do not experience as much pride in achievement as middle class students who have learned…

Through observational studies of 15 preschool and 15 public school first grade classrooms in Tokyo, Japan, an initial understanding of social control through education is presented. While Japanese preschool children are indulged and undisciplined by their parents, evidence suggests that Japanese school children are more attentive and spend less…

Project STAR (Social Thinking and Reasoning Program) is a classroom-based social skills program for students in grades 5-8. To assess the long-term effectiveness of this program, students participated in the project (N=331) were compared with control students (N=191) during 1980-83. The hypothesis that there are significant differences in current…

For a successful transition to adulthood, young people need opportunities to be responsible, caring, participating members of society. A study was designed to test the effectiveness of peer discipline control in seventh grade classrooms. The context was a language arts class in which the students were learning parliamentary procedures. A class…

A cooperative writing workshop that attempts to engage first-term college freshmen in a variety of genuine writing problems by stressing the class as audience, the use of daily journals, feedback from small group discussions, and frequent revision is described in the first part of this document. The remainder of the paper presents a case study of…

In this paper, emphasis is placed on examining the issue of sex differences from a historical perspective, within a framework focused on socialization factors, and within a more psychological framework that examines how society's beliefs and expectations are reflected in personal beliefs that may affect functioning. Biographical details about…

A study tested two hypotheses aimed at explaining the "self-fulfilling prophesy" that results when students are divided into ability group systems. The differential instruction hypothesis explains achievement differentials produced by grouping systems in terms of the differential instruction received by students. The peer differentials…

Reported in this document are the results of three experiments investigating the potential influence of peers in gender-role socialization. Children were exposed to a series of vignettes providing information about target children who varied in their degree of masculinity and femininity. Drawn from third through sixth grades, participants included…

To determine the areas in which communication affects prison environments and prison inmates, interviews were conducted with 21 adult male inmates shortly after their admission into a federal maximum security institution. The interviews were semistructured, addressing such issues as (1) perceptions of fellow inmates and staff; (2) additional…

The aim of this report is to identify and explain the relevant experiences that are being undertaken in some Southern European schools to prepare young people for living in a democracy. To prepare the report, the authors visited schools in five countries: Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. They also obtained information from ad hoc reports…

This paper contains the revised drug education guidelines for the state of California, which emphasize prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. The materials define school-based alcohol and drug abuse prevention programming as a comprehensive process that not only provides students with accurate information about alcohol and drugs, but also enhances…

Environmental influences on the development of children's reflective capacities and their knowledge of freehand drawing were investigated among preschool, kindergarten and first-grade children. One aspect of the social context of drawing was considered: the interactions that take place when children draw in the company of peers. Tapes of…

This booklet is designed to provide drug abuse prevention ideas for the classroom junior high school teacher. The information, activities and resources address the education portion of the prevention continuum defined by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, i.e., information, education, intervention, alternatives. This guide includes research…

Networks have emerged as a major topic of interest in the behavioral sciences, and network concepts have recently been extended by community psychologists to higher education. To examine the effectiveness of peer networks within an introductory psychology class, networks of four students each met weekly in place of a lecture to review material and…