Four-year-old (N=45) children were trained for eight weeks in one of three conditions: (1) logical foundations (classification and seriation); (2) number skills (counting); and (3) control. The experimental treatments were based on the logical foundations model of Piagetian theorists and a skill integration model. (Author/BS)

Twelve teachers estimated achievement test performance, basic intellectual ability, and academic motivation of each of their pupils. Standardized reading achievement and intelligence tests were administered to the pupils. Analyses revealed a high level of accuracy for achievement judgments when assessed against test scores. Pupil gender did not…

This study investigated the effect of student rating instructions on primacy and recency effects when rank ordering four lecture quality sequences. Effects were measured on final instructor ratings, liking for the instructor, student affect, and student self-esteem. (Author/BS)

Using 48 undergraduates, this study tested whether improving students' knowledge of balance rules through experience with a balance beam promotes understanding of the weighted mean. Subjects classified as nonbalancers performed significantly better on the transfer problems if they had been given balance training rather than assigned to the control…

Kindergarteners and first and fourth graders watched an educational television program containing three types of humor. Information acquisition and funniness were assessed. Compared with distortion-free humor, irony resulted in overestimates of properties of novel objects introduced in the program. Age did not diminish perceptual distortion.…

Team Assisted Individualization (TAI), a mathematics program combining individualized instruction, cooperative learning teams, and direct instruction, was compared to control methods in a 24-week experiment in 59 third- through fifth-grade classrooms. Significantly positive effects were found for both disabled and nondisabled students. (Author/BS)

In three experiments, differences between good and poor writers were examined on six cognitive-processing tasks: ordered letters, ironic memory, letter reordering, word reordering, sentence reordering, and paragraph assembly. Both college and high school students were studied. Significant differences were found in abilities to hold and…

This study provides a parametric extension of the immediate feedback and partial credit components of Pressey's corrective testing procedure. On several measures of students' subjective reactions, corrective testing feedback was superior to conventional multiple choice format. Providing students two attempts to answer each item obtained the most…

Two experiments were conducted on the influence of language mode (print or sign) and syntax (English or American Sign Language) on recall, preference, and comprehension. Prelingual deaf individuals' visual orientation produced a sign-based encoding system that responded to American Sign Language as a familiar language. (Author/BS)

This longitudinal analysis of children's achievement and self-perceptions of mathematics ability across grades 2, 5, and 10 used LISREL structural modeling to estimate reciprocal relationships between constructs measured by computational and problem-solving tests and self-rating scales. Findings included developmental differences in the causal…

An inductive concept-identification model of expository text processing, consonant with current theories of macrostructure development, is proposed as part of a reading comprehension instruction model. An evaluation study with fourth and sixth graders is described. Results are interpreted as supporting the model. (Author/BS)

Two experiments evaluated whether picture mnemonics help prereaders learn letter-sound associations. Pictures integrating the associations were compared with disassociated pictures and a no-picture control group. Children taught with integrated mnemonics learned more letter-sound associations and more letter-picture associations than the other two…

Three experiments exploring the relationship of cognitive effort to the differences in word recall between skilled and learning disabled readers are described. Results suggest the amount of cognitive effort that can be effectively expended to produce a distinctive memory trace is related to individual differences in attentional capacity.…

Five studies were conducted to determine if college students employ different conceptions of ability in self-referenced (task-involving) and interpersonally competitive (ego-involving) situations. Competence and positive affects were associated with higher effort in task-involving situations but negatively associated with higher effort in…

An information-processing model was tested for a laboratory visualization task that represents one adaptation of a standardized spatial ability test. The pattern of results suggests that individual differences are a function of differences in the accuracy and/or quality of the mental representation, not just speed of processing. (Author/BW)