Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and Pathfinder techniques for assessing changes in the structural representation of a knowledge domain were studied with relatedness ratings collected from 72 Spanish college students. Comparison of student and expert similarity measures indicate that MDS and graph theoretic approaches are valid techniques. (SLD)

It has previously been reported that a Pathfinder-based representation of domain knowledge is more predictive of classroom examination performance than the underlying data from which the Pathfinder representation is derived (relatedness ratings of pairs of concepts). Why this should be is analyzed with test results from 141 college students. (SLD)

Results of 2 experiments involving 305 college students suggest that instructor gender role is more important than instructor gender in affecting student evaluations and that both female and male students prefer instructors with both feminine and masculine characteristics, regardless of gender. (SLD)

To examine the validity of distinguishing children with reading disabilities according to discrepancy and low-achievement definitions, 4 assessments of expected achievement and 2 of actual achievement were obtained for 199 elementary school students. Results do not support the validity of the discrepancy versus the low-achievement definition.…

A new regression-based logic strategy is presented for comparing cognitive profiles of children developing reading skills at different rates. Results with 907 children support the phonological-core variable-difference model of reading disability, with the degree of aptitude-achievement discrepancy unrelated to unique cognitive trade-offs of…

In individual sessions, 51 kindergartners listened to an adult read the same storybook twice, 2 to 4 days apart, and then completed a test of knowledge of unfamiliar words from the study. Findings confirm that story listening contributes modestly to vocabulary growth, although four exposures to words appear necessary. (SLD)

In two experiments involving 195 high school students, independent measures of detection and correction of grammar, spelling, and meaning errors in text were examined. With the exception of spelling errors, knowledge of how to correct an error was necessary but not sufficient for detection. (SLD)

Thirty-two factual statements, half consistent and half not consistent with subjects' prior knowledge, were processed by 140 sixth and seventh graders. Half were directed to use elaborative interrogation (using prior knowledge) to answer why each statement was true. Across all memory measures, elaborative interrogation subjects performed better…

Perceptions of 1,615 college students of their teachers' support of student's questioning were examined in 2 experiments. Perceived support had significant and consistent relationships with student motivation and strategy use typical of self-regulated learners. It also appeared to affect the likelihood of student questioning. (SLD)

In a longitudinal study of 101 children at ages 9 and 10, structural equations path models support predictions that children's academic intrinsic motivation is positively related to parental encouragement of task endogeny and negatively related to parental provision of task-extrinsic consequences. (SLD)

Gender differences in item-specific confidence judgments were studied for 70 male and 181 female college students. Gender differences in confidence were dependent on context and the domain being tested. Both men and women were overconfident, but men were especially overconfident when incorrect. (SLD)

How learning styles (massed versus distributed practice) influence the relationship between abilities and task performance was studied with 209 undergraduates. Analysis reveals that perceptual speed contributes to performance for subjects who massed practice, whereas spatial visualization contributed for those who distributed practice.…

Status-based social rules associated with race, gender, and ability were studied for 216 fifth and sixth graders, evenly male and female and white and African American. Questionnaire responses indicate that respondent approval ratings are strongly affected by the status of the target student. (SLD)

Studying the perceptions of 199 middle school students and 190 high school students about class environment showed that same-sex and coeducational physical-education classes revealed quite different climates. Overall, girls' same-sex classes were perceived most favorably, and boys' same-sex classes were viewed least favorably. (SLD)

Path analysis was used to test the predictive and mediational roles of self-efficacy beliefs in mathematics problem solving for 350 undergraduates. The predictive role of self-efficacy supports the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in the social cognitive theory of A. Bandura (1986). (SLD)