Using samples of college students of very high ability and strong academic background, sex differences in performance and perceptions of performance in introductory chemistry and mathematics courses were studied. Considerable differences favoring men were found, and these appeared to be due primarily to differences in mathematics background.…

This study concerns the selection of mathematically talented students at the beginning of secondary school in Australia, using a version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Age and sex differences were found. Younger and older students responded to SAT items in qualitatively different ways. (MNS)

Two experiments investigate how attributes of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. Children in the single-coping-model, multiple-coping-model, and multiple-mastery-model conditions demonstrated higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance,…

This study attempts to understand the American and Japanese cultural and ethnic differences in student's mathematics scores from the perspective of differential cognitive organization of number resulting from differences in primary-language characteristics. The relation between cognitive representation of number and mathematics achievement are…

Investigates whether 53 mothers' beliefs about achievement were related to their seventh grade children's sex differences, and the association between these beliefs and their children's performance in mathematics. (HOD)

A task specification chart that integrates the content facets and the procedural steps of a specified task is suggested as a tool for designing a test and interpreting its results. This procedure is demonstrated for a mathematics test covering one instructional unit on adding and subtracting fractions. (Author/GDC)

Behaviorally disturbed students were administered portions of a test battery including the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), and the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test (SDMT). Results on the predictive validity of the instruments for mathematics and reading are given. (Author/ABB)

Findings of 79 research reports were analyzed to assess the effects of calculators on student achievement and attitudes. Except in grade four, use of calculators in concert with traditional mathematics instruction improved average students' basic skills with paper and pencil, both in working exercises and in problem solving. (MNS)

Two-hundred forty-seven students in AP Calculus BC classes in 15 schools were compared to 229 students in college calculus courses in nine colleges, using a testing instrument valid for both groups. The AP Calculus BC students achieved as well as, or better than, their college counterparts. (MNS)

Achievement and attitudinal effects of three mathematics instruction methods directed in varying degrees toward accommodating diversity in student performance levels were compared in two randomized field experiments with third- through sixth-grade classes. Treatments included Team Assisted Individualization, Ability Group Active Teaching, the…

Data were collected on mathematics achievement, spatial visualization ability, student attitudes, sex, parent attitudes, and student career interests of 1982 seventh- and eighth-grade students from 13 midwestern junior high schools. Parent attitudes and student career interests were significant predictors of mathematics achievement over and above…

Concludes that the reviewed test, which is designed to assess mathematics, reading, spelling, and writing abilities in students from first grade through post high school, is limited in usefulness for older students. (FL)

A number of measures were examined as predictors of graduate students' achievement in inferential statistics courses. The most important predictor variable set was attitudes toward feminist issues. Other predictors included mathematics attitude and masculinity-femininity. Sex-related differences were found on all variables except verbal and…

Determined whether test-wiseness training would influence the achievement of students in math and reading. Significant effects were noted in math for fifth-grade students. Race effects favored White students. (Author/ABB)

Some promising topics for research into increasing Native Americans' participation and achievement in mathematics are presented. They focus on raising expectations for performance, devising culturally based programs, and improving pedagogy. (MNS)