Evaluates a children's safety program, "Kidscape," that aims to increase primary school children's ability to deal with four types of potentially unsafe situations: being bullied, being approached by a stranger, being subject to inappropriate intimacy from a known adult, and being subject to pressure from such adults to keep such intimacy secret.…

Investigates relationships between students' attitudes toward chemistry and their perceived laboratory environments in Singapore high schools. Examines environmental-attitude relationships using multiple regression analysis and the Hierarchical Linear Model. Finds positive associations between the nature of the laboratory classroom environment and…

Reports on a project to encourage middle school students to use time spent on project work more effectively. Assesses the effectiveness of teaching students some elements of correspondence training that required them to explicitly plan and evaluate their activities. Finds marked improvement, especially among more able students. (DSK)

Explores relative developmental influences of age, number-sense, and context on primary school children's ability to estimate measures. Finds that, although number-sense improved with age, estimation did not; ability to perceive number relations influenced ability to estimate area; and estimation was more accurate in textbook exercises than in a…

Examines the reading attainment levels of a group of elementary students who had either experienced nursery, day care, or no preschool provision outside the home. Compares pupils' scores on reading tests over four years. Although the results were inconclusive they suggest positive reading attainment outcomes related to preschool experience. (MJP)

Presents the results of a study that surveyed 350 Australian secondary teachers concerning their experiences and attitudes about computers. As hypothesized, computer anxieties were inversely related to the quality of prior computer learning experiences. Recommends approaches for the reduction of computer anxiety among teachers. (MJP)

Discusses the application of "say-do" (a technique which compares students' verbal commitment to positive behavior with the actual behavior) correspondence training to reduce troublesome behavior in the classroom. Specifically reviews the cases of seven secondary students and traces their responses to this technique. Defends correspondence…

Self-determination theory and a motivational model of engagement were used to determine the impact of perceived competence and autonomy on engagement and performance in 77 third and fourth graders identified as above average in ability. Children who felt less competent or less autonomous reported more negative affect and withdrawal. (SLD)

Data from 877 3rd, 7th, and 11th graders substantiated the multidimensionality of academic self-concept, as based on the Shavelson model, but yielded no support for increasing differentiation across age. Data also determined minor deterioration of hierarchical structure for early and late adolescents but no progressive pattern of weakening across…

The incidence and causes of cheating were studied through a questionnaire completed by 943 English college students. Reported cheating was widespread, more common among men and less able students, and more common in science and technology students. Student motivation appears to be a major factor in explaining the differences. (SLD)

The effects of performance feedback and social visibility on task performance and on incidental learning of peripheral stimuli were studied with 64 French male students, half high achievers and half low achievers. Both performance and allocation of attention were extremely sensitive to the consistency between students' past and present academic…

Strategy use and its impact on standardized reading test performance were studied with 128 high school students. Students in a standardized test condition used more strategies than those asked merely to identify main ideas. Thinking aloud had detrimental effects on ability to identify main ideas. (SLD)

Students from 38 colleges with high scores on an advanced placement examination essay and low scores on the multiple-choice portion were compared with students with the opposite pattern. The pattern was not related to college grades, but was related to other test performance. (SLD)

Gender-related differences in participation in and scores on the College Board's Advanced Placement and Achievement examinations were studied for the years 1982 through 1992. There was little change in patterns of examination participation, and patterns of sex differences in scores were generally stable, with some evidence of difference narrowing.…

Analysis of data from the 1991 International Assessment of Educational Progress for 34 countries and 3,300 students ages 9 and 13 years in each indicates that gender differences in performance were generally small in mathematics, but were larger for science, with male scores higher in both age groups. (SLD)