Efficiency was compared between three procedures for sequencing examples with minimal stimulus variation between adjacent positive and negative examples: dynamic, static, and static with maximal differences between pairs. For young children, increasing relevant feature saliency and altering a single stimulus to generate examples reduced training…

The effect of attitudes toward mathematics-related coursework, previous mathematics coursework, student sex, spatial ability, and masculinity-femininity of interest pattern on statistics achievement were studied in 188 graduate students. Sex-related differences were found in mathematics attitude, spatial visualization, and achievement in the…

Students' evaluations of teaching were validated against both cognitive and affective criteria of effective instruction. End-of-term ratings correlated more highly with the criteria than did the midterm ratings. Both cognitive and affective criteria were correlated with different components of the student ratings, but not with each other.…

Although girls and boys were similar in cognitive skills and attitudes toward mathematics in grade 8, boys performed significantly better in mathematics by grade 11, even with mathematics background controlled. No sex-related difference in spatial visualization developed. (Author/GDC)

Small graphic changes made in normal letters of the alphabet changed the similarity relations among those letters. Children and adults classified letters of this distinctive font faster and with fewer errors than they did normal letters. Relations between letters in the stimulus set determined how difficult any particular letter was to classify.…

Fifty-one very bright adolescents participated in a productive-thinking program and a challenging course in either creative writing or the social sciences. The program produced significant gains in verbal intelligence scores. The productive-thinking program also significantly raised scores on measures of creativity. (Author/GDC)

Senior high students who were given concepts simultaneously learned more than those who received concepts successively. A second variable, instructional control strategy, contrasted an adaptive (computer-assisted) control strategy with learner control. Performance was above the criterion level for the adaptive condition, but below it for learner…

In a study using 944 fourth and fifth graders, locus of control and depression were positively related. Three measures of achievement were negatively related to both external locus of control and depression. The negative relationship also held for intelligence quotient, although it was not as strong. (Author/GDC)

College teachers were evaluated as to appeal, competence, delivery, and teaching effectiveness and their presentations were analyzed to identify features of humor usage. Correlation coefficients were computed between frequency of use of various types of humor and students' evaluations of their professors. Results indicated differences between male…

Sixth to eighth grade students received points based on weekly quiz performance and a base score derived from a pretest and adjusted to reflect actual weekly performance. The points were reported in a weekly newsletter. Students in experimental classes achieved more on a final standardized test than did control classes. (Author/GDC)

For college students learning concepts, the advisement condition resulted in better performance than the learner control condition and needed less instructional time than the adaptive control condition. Results also indicated that students given concepts simultaneously performed better and needed less instruction than those who received concepts…

In seven experiments, college or high school students studied texts containing either adjunct application or adjunct factual questions. Students were then tested for their ability to apply the presented concepts. Results suggested that the type of adjunct question had little influence on students' later ability to apply presented concepts.…

The relationship of teachers' cognitive styles and their pupils' achievement was examined for second and fifth graders. Results indicated significant effects due to teachers' cognitive styles, but there was no significant outcome (main or interaction effect) associated with the matching of teachers' and pupils' cognitive styles, or with grade…

Stories were constructed in which minor variations in content influenced the relationship existing between statements. The stories had four episodes, which were either logically related or independent. First and third graders could more accurately recall the structure of the logically organized episodes than that of the temporally listed episodes.…

Elementary school children's understanding was assessed after they read or listened to brief texts that described a scene, explained a sequence of events, or told a story. Results indicated that effectiveness in understanding depends on the fluency with which component processes of perceptual recognition, comprehension, and memory are coordinated.…