This book analyzes the nature of differences among students in terms of grade levels of academic abilities. How these differences have emerged, and what teachers can do to address such varied abilities in their classrooms are discussed. Chapter 1, "The Nature of the Educational Challenge," examines just how extensive these differences…

A study investigated differences in discourse styles that may affect second language listening comprehension. Ten amateur actors performed three speaking tasks: (1) reading aloud a short self-contained narrative; (2) acting out a memorized script; and (3) conversing with the researcher for 20-30 minutes. Excerpts of the recorded tasks in different…

Understanding the behavior of those evaluating a speech is important for a complete understanding of the public communication process. Ratings of public speaking were submitted to a Rasch analysis to determine whether objective measurement can create and maintain a standard of speech evaluation. Data used were 1,022 ratings of 168 speeches given…

This study investigated the role that emotional factors play in learning about sexual health and in adopting sexually healthy behaviors. Learning about health and adopting healthy behaviors hinges on two variables: the desire to avoid illness and a belief that one can avoid threats to health through personal action. This paper reports on…

U.S. society is diverse, consisting of individuals who may differ in culture, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, exceptionality, and age. Optimum learning for all students can occur only in an environment that supports and encourages such diversity. Multicultural education addresses the challenges of recognizing diversity…

This paper presents a rationale for serving gifted students in the regular classroom and offers guidelines for recognizing students who are gifted in the seven types of intelligence proposed by Howard Gardner. Stressed is the importance of creating in the classroom a community of learners that allows all children to actively explore ideas and…

The report describes Project UNIQUE (Underachievers Needing Individualized and Qualitative Unique Education) for gifted underachieving students in grades 3-6, stressing three major instructional components: (1) an affective curriculum; (2) a differentiated curriculum; and (3) a study skills curriculum. The program includes inservice involvement of…

Two task were developed to assess second and fourth grade girls' ability to generate quantitative inferences and estimate answers to math word problems. The generation of quantitative inferences is thought to constitute problem representation, and the ability to estimate answers to word problems is facilitated by the presence of an accurate…

The principles of andragogy, as explained by M. S. Knowles, in contrast to pedagogy, provide a frame of reference for a differentiated approach to inservice teacher education. Adults are self-directing and ready to learn when they experience a need to know or do something, are life-, task-, or problem-centered, are motivated by both internal and…

A qualitative study of the validity of daily newspaper criticism, this report was based on the examination of the work of two competing critics and one relatively neutral cultural journalist covering four plays performed during the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespearean Festival. After examining the theoretical and philosophical context in which…

To ascertain whether cerebral lateralities can be considered aptitudes or individual difference measures within an aptitude-treatment-interaction (ATI) framework, hemispheric asymmetries and cognitive psychometric tests were administered to 50 right-handed, Caucasian, male Navy recruits. Principal factor analysis with varimax rotation was computed…

The purpose of this study was the examination of the field-dependent cognitive style as it relates to differences in learning within an analytical, concept-based physical education curriculum. Subjects were 52 elementary school students in the second grade who scored in the fourth quartile on the Children's Group Embedded Figures Test. Observation…

Underlying the research reported in this paper is a theoretical framework which defines the self-regulation of learning as the number and kinds of teaching tasks students perform themselves. Three studies are presented on individual differences in regulation-processes emerging from thinking aloud protocols. Protocols of good and weaker performing…

Critical review of previous techniques for the measurement of an individual's self-concept (SC) is a necessary prelude to the development of more adequate methodologies. This paper focuses on recent methodological innovations in the study of the self, namely, those derived from cognitive social psychology. A view of the self as a cognitive…

This paper draws on baseline data from the National Center for Research on Teacher Education to examine the approaches to learner diversity held by prospective teachers participating in five U.S. teacher education programs. Four layers of meaning given to the concept of diversity are proposed: individual, categorical, contextual, and pedagogical…