An attempt is made to elaborate a theoretical base about the functions and effects of embedded support devices (ESDs), considering the extent to which students actually use ESDs. ESDs are a set of activating, structuring, and motivating extras in study materials that are designed to support the individual study process. The report describes the…

This paper presents results from a number of trials of a new approach in assessing student conceptions in physics and changes in these conceptions over time. The goal was to explore the potential of Personal Construct Psychology and its central tool, Repertory Grid Technique, to aid in the diagnosis of learner difficulties and eventually the…

Understanding learning differences and how they function in the classroom is important to both students and teachers. The learning preferences described in this handbook are based on the concepts of psychological type developed by Carl Jung. Jung identified three sets of psychological processes, the areas of attitude (orientation), perception, and…

Teacher immediacy has been a widely studied construct with the overall finding that being immediate is good. Verbal and nonverbal immediacy has been associated with increased motivation to study and learning. The most common methodology used to measure teacher immediacy has been student reports. An underlying assumption of this methodology is that…

This paper proposes that mild learning disability may often be more the result of teaching which ignores individual differences in learning style than the result of psychological processing and/or central nervous system disorders that are characteristic of true learning disabilities. A brief overview of learning disability identification explains…

A study explored girls' emerging attitudes toward breast care and breast self-exam (BSE) and the extent to which girls had given thought to these issues. Analyses focused specifically on individual differences related to age, stage of breast development, perceived normalcy of breast development, and body image. The sample consisted of 43 white,…

This guide to educational services for individuals with traumatic brain injury emphasizes that there is no such thing as a typical brain injury and that each child's recovery is unique. It stresses the schools' responsibility to serve these children's educational, psychological, emotional, communicative, and/or health needs, and urges public…

This study examines the contributions of infant temperament and maternal style to the development of behavioral inhibition during the first year of life. It was hypothesized that children whose mothers allowed them to experience small amounts of frustration, thereby allowing the child to develop coping strategies for such situations, would show…

This study investigated the impact of a program called "New Friends: Mainstreaming Activities To Help Young Children Understand and Accept Individual Differences" in teaching preschool children about similarities, differences, and disabilities, and assessed its effectiveness in improving nondisabled children's attitudes toward, and…

This paper highlights a panel discussion dealing with different perceptions of disability and how these perceptions are influenced by the experience of living with, working with, and teaching children with handicaps. One panel participant, a Native American, discusses her experience in accepting and loving her handicapped daughter. She counsels…

An investigation was made of the relationships between creativity and factors associated with the aging process of retired and current artists over the age of 65. Its focus was to determine differences among three groups of creative people--continuing artists, retired artists, and new artists--in terms of their views of how aging affects…

Mental retardation, learning disabilities, and intellectual giftedness have long been separated as different fields. In the past decade research findings suggested a continuity within the general intelligence spectrum which place the gifted on one extreme and the retarded on the other, as well as a two dimensional taxonomy of intellectual…

This study examined parental beliefs regarding developmentally appropriate preschool programming. A survey instrument based on National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) was designed to assess beliefs concerning: (1) curricular goals; (2) teaching strategies; (3)…

This study compares the concept of human nature in Germany, Java, and the United States. The study assumes cross-cultural similarities in the formal structure of the concept of human nature, while hypothesizing variation in content, for example, in the value systems. Four components of the concept of human nature were presented (personality…

This digest reviews the literature related to learning styles of American Indian and Alaskan Native students. Several studies show that in some tribes, observation, self-testing in private, and then demonstration of a task for approval are essential steps in learning. Indian children often hesitate to participate in large and small-group…