A cognitive social learning model for stress moderation was tested using 531 junior high school students. Higher levels of stress were found for younger students, White students, females, and those with upsetting life events. Locus of control, Type A personality, and knowledge of stress did not appear to moderate levels. (Author/MT)

Three high school biology textbooks were analyzed to determine possible sources of misconceptions and related learning problems associated with genetics. Misconceptions were examined in these categories: conceptual organization; conceptual relations; use of terminology; and mathematical elements. Implications for instruction related to each…

To overcome learner dependence when modeling cognitive processes, one teacher used direct teaching of specific thinking skills with her middle school language arts students. The teacher introduced the skill of analyzing for personification to her students. The class experimented with the skill, completed the task, and applied the skill to…

Examines development of event memory by determining how personally experienced events with two types of structure were reported by kindergartners and adults. Events in making and playing with clay were organized causally and temporally. Results show that adults and children used a goal-based hierarchical structure to remember events, although use…

Describes three experiments that examined how children (4- to 11-year-olds) use their knowledge of the attributes of living things to infer whether particular objects are alive. (HOD)

A content analysis was performed on 57 selected children's books to identify the kinds of information presented about death. Among the factors analyzed were the place of death, who died, cause of death, feelings expressed by the dying person, the nature of the funeral, and questions asked by the child characters. (A selected bibliography of…

Investigated common belief patterns secondary school students (N=84) have about inheritance, noting the most prevalent misconceptions about genetics which occur at different age levels. Implications based on findings and suggestions for teaching lower secondary courses are included. (ML)

Examines preschool children's understanding of the reading process. Results indicate that children's immediate experiences and their developmental characteristics had an impact on their conception of reading. (Author/AS)

Reanalyzes data from a study in which 42 fifth graders received training in map-drawing skills. Explores the relationship between the mixture of reasoning levels and developmental change, and compares findings with those of an earlier study of social reasoning. (CB)

Points out aspects of counting books that may impede learning, notes general and specific criteria for evaluating counting books, and offers an annotated bibliography illustrating the application of criteria. (RH)

Investigated the extent to which 28 academically able students used energy conservation ideas in solving written and practical problems. Interviews show problems they had in understanding and using the concepts of work and energy and that the idea of energy conservation was rarely used spontaneously in relevant situations. (JN)

Research identifies two interrelated memories--one that retains facts and symbols and one that retains motor and problem-solving skills. These and other findings challenge educators to determine what students should memorize, to help them move from random memorization to creating useful concepts, and to teach students to use memory in problem…

Addresses limitations of previous research by testing second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children on three measures: an open-ended interview, a story-recognition task, and a questionnaire about the importance of different characteristics to friendships and acquaintanceships. Friendship expectations based on dispositional characteristics increased…

The interview-about-instances technique was used to investigate the conceptual frameworks that 17 Form Four Southeast Asian students held about forces acting on an object at rest or in motion. Results show a number of alternate frameworks which are similar to those found in research conducted in western countries. (Author/JN)

Reports three studies which explored relationships between prototypicality and sentence structure in recall, preference ratings, and natural dictionary definitions. The results can be explained in terms of the sensitivity of sentence production processes to the lexical or conceptual accessibility of prototypes. (Author/AMH)