Although the methamphetamine epidemic in the United States has caught the attention of law enforcement and the media, the needs of the children living in so-called "meth homes" have not yet been addressed. These children are endangered from not only the chemicals involved, but also parental abuse and/or neglect. Little is known, however,…

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind skills by considering whether "costs" of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children's academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year…

This paper presents research that examines the links between practitioners' understanding of play and its relationship to learning, their pedagogic interactions with children and children's own perceptions of their play. Previous research has shown a mismatch between practitioners' understanding of play and their practice. This research identifies…

The need has arise for the consideration of individual differences, to include their learning styles, learning orientations, preferences and needs in learning to allow learners engage and be responsible for their own learning, retain information longer, apply the knowledge more effectively, have positive attitudes towards the subject, have more…

This study examined relationships among drinking intentions, environments, and outcomes in a random sample of 566 undergraduate college students. Telephone interviews were conducted with respondents before and after a single weekend assessing drinking intentions for the coming weekend related to subsequent drinking behaviors. Latent class analyses…

This study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners' phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were…

I summarize a theoretical model of the social, cultural, and psychological influences on achievement-related choices and outline how this model can help us understand gendered educational and occupational choices. I argue that both gender differences and individual differences within each gender in educational and occupational choices are linked…

Using data from a multisited ethnography of Ecuadorian transnational musicians, I applied Lave and Wenger's (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation and Jacoby and Ochs's (1995) notion of co-construction to examine two musicians' attempts to learn Quichua, an Ecuadorian indigenous language. Through an analysis aided by constructivist…

Following resettlement in Western countries, unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) are at risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is unclear to what extent PTSD in this group may become manifest at later stages following resettlement and which factors are associated with late onset. We examined data from URM collected 1 (T1) and 2…

Teachers face continuous changes, many of which significantly influence their professional identities and work practices. This study investigates Finnish vocational teachers' pathways in the course of a curriculum reform. The data were obtained by interviewing 14 vocational teachers twice, i.e. at the initial and later stages of the reform. This…

In this review, the authors interrogate the recent identity turn in literacy studies by asking, How do particular views of identity shape how researchers think about literacy and, conversely, how does the view of literacy taken by a researcher shape meanings made about identity? To address this question, the authors review various ways of…

Teachers are being increasingly held accountable for their quality of student instruction. They need to prepare well for each lesson taught and provide for individual differences among learners. Documentation of teaching success is desired. Tracking results of teacher effectiveness is salient. Thus, there needs to be an effective approach to use…

A friend and fellow academic recently told the author that her dean, who directs a professional school at a state university, spends most of his time at conferences hanging out with professors from his institution, as well as with their graduate students and his co-authors on research papers. She said, and the author agreed, that such habits…

A milestone in human development is coming to recognize that how something looks is not necessarily how it is. We tested appearance-reality understanding in chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") with a task requiring them to choose between a small grape and a big grape. The apparent relative size of the grapes was reversed using magnifying and…

This study investigates word reading skill in Down Syndrome (DS). Two main questions are addressed: (1) Is reading an island of ability in DS? and (2) What are the cognitive correlates of word reading ability in DS? In particular, how do language versus visual-spatial skills relate to individual differences in reading ability in DS? Participants…