bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
REMEMBERING IDEAS FROM TEXT: THE EFFECT OF MODALITY OF PRESENTATION
Authors: GREEN RUTH
Published: May 2011

Summary. Forty‐eight subjects (16–17 years old), randomly assigned to two recall conditions (immediate and delayed), were each given two prose passages to recall, one after reading, the other after listening. The passages were judged to be difficult in content and unfamiliar. An incidental recall procedure was adopted. Following Meyer's (1975) analytic procedures, recall protocols were scored for the presence of idea units, content units, relationship units and number of units at each level of the content structure. Number of errors were scored independently of Meyer's scheme. As hypothesised for a difficult recall task involving connected prose, results demonstrated the superiority of recall after reading, both in terms of total units recalled and in number of errors. This suggests the value of more systematic research into the conditions which favour one mode of presentation over the other.
HOW WELL DO CHILDREN REMEMBER WHAT THEY HAVE RECALLED?
Authors: GOODMAN CATHY , GARDINER J. M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. After a series of immediate free recall trials children were given an unexpected recall‐recognition test, results of which showed that younger children, aged about 6 years, were quite poor at discriminating between previously recalled and non‐recalled list items and that they were much less accurate than older children aged about 8 years or more (N = 14 per group). The findings suggest that young children may be generally quite inaccurate in assessing their previous recall performance, and this suggestion was discussed in relation to the development of other memory skills.
A READABILITY STUDY OF JUNIOR SCHOOL LIBRARY PROVISION RELATED TO CHILDREN'S INTERESTS AND READING ABILITIES
Authors: HILL L. E.
Published: May 2011

Summary. An analysis of the library reading material of a junior school was related to the reading abilities and interests of its pupils. The school's resources of 4,793 library books were classified into 50 categories in two roughly equal groupings, Fiction and Information. A 5 per cent sample, stratified by category and placement, was measured by a modified Fry Graph. Two hundred and fifty‐eight children were assessed by Schonell Silent Reading Tests A and B and completed a questionnaire. The findings indicated that the readability levels of most of the books were considerably higher than the reading ages of the majority of the pupils. The results yielded a significant negative correlation between the children's professed interests and the subject matter of library non‐fiction reading material.
THE EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM SPATIAL ORGANISATION ON FOUR‐ AND FIVE‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDREN'S LEARNING
Authors: NASH B. C.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In a three‐year cumulative study, children's learning in 19 randomly arranged classrooms (R) was compared with that in 19 classrooms (S) in which space was deliberately arranged to promote learning. Time scheduling, equipment, materials and teacher‐child communication patterns were similar for all classrooms. Over 250 four‐year‐olds and 250 five‐year‐olds were observed in each setting (N = 1072). Creative productivity and skills, generalisation of number concepts, variety of oral language use and utilisation of listening and pre‐reading materials were significantly better for both four‐year‐old and five‐year‐old children in the (S) classrooms.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE READING LESSONS OF DEAF AND HEARING PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Authors: HOWARTH S. P. , WOOD D. J. , GRIFFITHS A. J. , HOWARTH C. I.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper reports a comparative study of the reading lessons of deaf and hearing children. Deaf and hearing children were video‐taped reading texts in the classroom in normal reading lessons. These recordings were analysed to identify the reasons why children stopped or were stopped in reading, the time spent in the lesson and reading rates. The study shows that the reading lesson of deaf children tends to be used for a variety of purposes and shows marked differences from that of hearing children learning from the same books. However, it also shows that deaf children develop faster reading speeds as they come to tackle more difficult texts in a manner similar to the hearing. The study also indicates differences in reading development in the deaf associated with teaching methods, but this latter result demands further investigation. These results are discussed in relation to reading retardation in the deaf.
COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE VARIABLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF FORMAL OPERATIONAL SKILLS
Authors: SLATER A. M. , KINGSTON DENISE J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In two experiments seven‐year‐old children and university students were asked to judge the truth value of questions asked about the colour of counters that were either concealed in the experimenter's hand or shown to the subject. It was found that the children were able to demonstrate one of the major characteristics of formal operational thought, namely the ability to reason in terms of verbally stated hypotheses without reliance on direct, physical experience. Specifically, they were able to evaluate correctly questions whose truth value depended on their logical form rather than from empirical considerations. However, under slightly different testing conditions the students failed to answer the same questions correctly. Our results show that fluctuations in task demands can profoundly affect the manifestation in performance of a subject's underlying formal operational competence, and lend support to the view that some features of the later period are emerging during the concrete operations period.
PRODUCTIVITY OF SCHOOLS IN RELATION TO PROCESS AND STRUCTURE VARIABLES OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY OF ACHIEVEMENT IN GEOMETRY
Authors: SINGH P.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A sample of 474 10th graders was drawn from 17 schools, governing a catchment area of one district in Punjab (India). Using process and structure variables as inputs and the criterion variable of achievement in geometry as an output, the schools were dichotomised as productive and under‐productive on the basis of their predicted achievement in multivariate regression equations. The global and analytical picture of such schools was viewed in terms of process and structure variables associated with school, classroom, teachers and students. It was observed that productive schools were characterised by bigger size, higher pupil: teacher ratio and lower expenditure per student in terms of teachers' salaries. The variables of schools characteristics such as: curriculum press, methods of teaching and student teacher interaction in the classroom, curricular activities, school rules, regulations, policies and school traditions revealed a trend in favour of productive schools, which was further substantiated in the analytic picture of schools giving the highest and the lowest output. The teachers of productive schools were conspicuous by superior self‐concept irrespective of their qualifications and experience. However, when these variables were made operative, experience favoured better attitudes toward ‘professional growth’ and ‘school discipline’. The pupils of productive and under‐productive schools did not differ in respect of their previous academic background; however intelligence and socio‐economic status emerged as differential variables.
STIMULATED RECALL: A METHOD FOR RESEARCH ON TEACHING
Authors: CALDERHEAD J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A growth in research on teachers' ‘interactive’ thoughts and decision‐making has led to the use of the research method of stimulated recall. The method has been employed in a number of different forms, but generally involves the replay of videotape or audiotape of a teacher's lesson in order to stimulate a commentary upon the teacher's thought processes at the time. The appropriate use of the method, the variety of ways in which it has been employed and their advantages and disadvantages are considered together with an examination of the status and validity of recalled thoughts and the problems of interpretation. It is concluded that although questions of validity cannot be completely resolved the technique presents a systematic approach to the collection of data potentially useful in research on teaching.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: AN EVALUATION OF A SCHOOL‐BASED PARENTAL ASSISTANCE PLAN
Authors: BEVERIDGE M. , JERRAMS ANN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Four groups of 10 nursery school children were selected such that each child was matched on EPVT, Reynell Language Development Scales and Raven's Progressive Matrices with one member of each of the other groups. A Parental Assistance Plan (PAP), designed to help parents to facilitate their children's language development, was devised. This plan involved the parents in working on language with their children at home for 20 minutes per day, and familiarisation with the plan brought the parents into school for one half day per week for 12 weeks. The mothers of two of the groups received the PAP and worked with their children accordingly. One of these two groups also received the Distar Language programme. A third group received only the Distar and the fourth group received no formal intervention but merely played with toys in the presence of a teacher for an equivalent period. Results of an immediate post‐test and another 18 months later showed that both the groups whose parents participated in the PAP showed significantly greater increase in language development.
A COMPARISON OF TEACHERS', PUPILS' AND PARENTS' ATTRIBUTIONS REGARDING PUPILS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
Authors: BAR‐TAL D. , GUTTMANN J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study compared attributions of teachers, pupils, and parents regarding pupils' academic success or failure. Eighty pupils were asked to indicate the extent to which each of the 10 given causes influenced their achieved grade. In addition, 8 teachers and 50 parents were given the same questionnaire and were asked to explain the achievements of the pupils. The results showed that teachers attributed pupils' success mainly to themselves and to the pupils, pupils attributed their success mainly to themselves and to the teacher, and parents attributed their children's success mainly to themselves and to the teacher. In case of failure, teachers and pupils shared the responsibility for the outcome with each other and with the parents, while the parents shared the responsibility mainly with the pupils or cited external causes.
LEVEL I AND LEVEL II ABILITIES IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Authors: MACKENZIE A. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Jensen's (1970) two‐level theory of ability relates intelligence and rote learning to socio‐economic status (SES) and educational achievement. In order to test four hypotheses from the theory, two tests of Level I ability (Digit Span, and Paired Associates) and two tests of Level II ability (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and Raven's Matrices) and a questionnaire were administered to 525 fifth grade, Australian primary school children. Only one hypothesis was supported: that Level II ability is more strongly associated with SES than Level I ability. The utility of Jensen's suggestion that Level I ability should be more fully exploited in the education of disadvantaged children is questioned.
PERSONALITY AND ARITHMETIC OF NORMAL SCHOOL PUPILS AND BOYS IN A COMMUNITY HOME WITH EDUCATION
Authors: WATSON P.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Relationships between personality and mechanical arithmetic test measures in 118 eleven to twelve‐year‐old normal school pupils were studied. Speed was found to be related to attitudes, mainly Jesness Inventory subscores, and accuracy to cognitive styles. Specifically, errors involving carelessness, including those due to ‘set’, were related to Impulsivity on Kagan's test. Then CHE boys were found to differ from the normal pupils in terms of Jesness scores and Impulsivity. They attempted fewer arithmetic items and, on a more difficult test, were markedly less accurate than normal pupils. They made proportionately more ‘set‐errors’.

Lower arithmetic attainment scores of CHE boys are not wholly attributable to lack of knowledge but are related partly to attitude and partly to Impulsivity.
DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE USE OF LINGUISTIC AND GRAPHEMIC INFORMATION DURING READING
Authors: MURRAY LINDA A. , MALIPHANT R.
Published: May 2011

Summary.— The use of syntactic, semantic and graphemic information by 52 readers in the first and second year of junior school was examined by means of a cloze task and an error‐detection task. The results from both tasks indicated that there is greater use of all three types of information in the second year compared with the first year, and by good readers compared with poor readers. No evidence was found for an inverse relationship between the use of contextual and graphemic cues. The use of semantic information is initially less effective than that of syntactic information, but increases to equal it by the second year. The children's pattern of responding in relation to grammatical classes was similar to that found in adults.
THE SELF‐CONCEPT AND PERSISTENT SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM
Authors: REID K.
Published: May 2011

Summary.— The Brookover (1967) Self‐Concept of Academic Ability Scale and the shortened Coopersmith (1967) Self‐Esteem Inventory were given to 77 persistent absentees and their two control groups in the third, fourth and fifth years at a large inner‐city comprehensive school in a deprived area in South Wales over an 8‐week period. The results showed that the persistent absentees had significantly lower self‐concepts as measured by these instruments than their two control groups. The implications of these results and ways of overcoming this problem are postulated.
A COMPARISON OF SCIENCE WORD MEANING IN THE CLASSROOMS OF TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: SCOTTISH INTEGRATED SCIENCE IN SCOTLAND AND IN MALAYSIA
Authors: ISA A. M. , MASKILL R.
Published: May 2011

Summary.— Many Scottish and Malaysian children study introductory science using the same teaching materials. A Scottish and a Malay sample of 14‐year‐old schoolchildren have been tested using word association tests of the meaning of a selection of 14 science concept words from the first year of integrated science. The tests clearly distinguished between the two samples. The Malay children generally produced more associates than the Scottish children and their responses were more homogeneous.

Sets of semantic consensus measures extracted from the data for samples and sub‐samples showed high positive correlations for within‐nation comparisons (mean 0·95) whereas the cross‐nation correlations produced low correlations (mean 0·23). Factor analysis on the sets of SCI data for each of the 19 schools clearly produced Malay and Scottish factors. The reasons for the clear distinctions between the two national groups are discussed in terms of the detailed word association test data.
PRIMARY DYSMENORRHEA, EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE, AND COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE VARIABLES IN ADOLESCENT SCHOOLGIRLS
Authors: FONTANA D. , REES VALERIE
Published: May 2011

Summary. In spite of its potential effect upon educational performance, little research has been carried out into primary dysmenorrhea and its relationship with academic, cognitive and affective variables in adolescent girls. The present study set out to remedy this neglect, and studied matched samples of dysmenorrheac and non‐dysmenorrheac girls at a local authority comprehensive school. Results indicated that, although girls with primary dysmenorrhea appear to be significantly more neurotic than those who do not suffer from menstrual distress, there is no apparent difference between the two groups on cognitive and academic measures or in school attendance.
ADVISING DEAF YOUTH TO TRAIN FOR VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS: ATTITUDES OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
Authors: DECARO J. J. , EVANS L. , DOWALIBY F. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The influence of significant others upon the deaf child's formulation of his/her concept of deafness is profound. The articulation of the attitudes of such persons toward the types of employment deaf people can perform is, therefore, important. An attitude instrument and research methodology were developed, validated and implemented with parents, teachers, houseparents and teachers' aides at a school for the deaf in England. Attitudes pertaining to advising equally qualified deaf and hearing persons to train for 14 different occupations were assessed. There were no significant differences in the expressed attitudes of parents, teachers, teachers' aides and houseparents. There were significant differences in the expressed advice to hearing and deaf persons.
THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE MOTIVATION ANALYSIS TEST
Authors: COOPER C. , KLINE P.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Cattell's Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) is the only published instrument for assessing his comprehensive motivational theory. The homogeneity of the MAT was investigated by classical item analysis, and the 20 scales were found to have uniformly low item‐total correlations. This may explain why a number of attempts to factor analyse the test have given inconsistent results, and suggests that the MAT would require extensive revision before being applied to educational problems in Britain.
CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE STYLES SHOWN FOR QUALITATIVE BIOLOGICAL PROBLEM‐SOLVING
Authors: BRUMBY MARGARET N.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Three qualitative, unfamiliar problems were designed to explore differences in cognitive styles in a biological context, and were given to 48 first‐year tertiary students. Two components of cognitive style were identified. The first was the students' perception of a problem, categorised into analytic, holist and versatile. The second was the ability of students to integrate a particular problem with their existing knowledge, categorised as high and low level. Overall 42 per cent used a singular analytic style of perception; conversely 8 per cent explained all tasks in a purely holist style, and 50 per cent showed varying ability to use both styles of perception in different problems.

When the students' results were individually compared for these two problems, it was found that only four students (8 per cent) changed their style of perception between two similar problems.

Overall, the percentages of female and male students using a purely analytic style were approximately equal.

A higher percentage of students showed a ‘high’ level of integration for the familiar Graph problem than for the unfamiliar Immunity problem. This suggests that the ability to integrate relates more to the content of the task, than does style of perception.
THE INFLUENCE OF STANDARD GRAPHIC ORIENTATIONS ON CHILDREN'S SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE‐TAKING
Authors: IVES S. W.
Published: May 2011

Summary. To determine whether the rules children use in drawing tasks influence their performance on other spatial tasks, 120 children in kindergarten, second, and fourth grade were asked to indicate the orientation of objects when viewed from another's perspective. The results were analysed to determine if the standard orientations found in drawings of the same objects influenced correct responses or egocentric errors on the perspective task. A lack of significant findings suggests that the standard orientations found in drawings are a product of constructions in that medium rather than a reflection of more general internal images.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Anthony W. S.
Published: May 2011

Book reviewed in this article:

Child, D. (1981). Psychology and the Teacher. (Third Edition).

Fontana, D. (1981). Psychology for Teachers.

Tomlinson, P. (1981). Understanding Teaching: Interactive Educational Psychology.
LISTENING AND READING: THE RECALL OF 7‐ TO 9‐YEAR‐OLDS
Authors: JOHNSON SANDRA
Published: May 2011

Summary. A number of empirical investigations have been concerned with comparisons of success in retrieval of information received by subjects from written and aural sources. None of these studies has related to normal developing young readers. The exercise described in this paper did involve such young readers, and their recall performances were compared across the three language reception modes of listening, oral reading and silent reading.

Ninety‐six randomly selected children aged 7 to 9 years were tested for their recall after hearing, orally reading and silently reading comparable 200‐word stories. Three‐choice questions were used to elicit the recall responses, and the exercise followed a repeated‐measures Graeco‐Latin square design replicated for sex and age.

A significant language mode difference was found resulting from a highly significant sex‐mode interaction. The interaction reflected the very poor recall performance of boys after silent reading compared with their recall after listening and after oral reading. Girls showed comparable recall performance across all three language modes.
FACTOR ANALYSIS OF TEMPERAMENT CHARACTERISTICS IN CHILDREN AT 6 MONTHS, 1 YEAR AND 2 YEARS OF AGE
Authors: PERSSON‐BLENNOW I. , McNEIL T. F.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Patterns among the nine temperament variables from the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS) were studied by means of factor analyses of data from a demographically representative sample of 160 children at 6 months, 1 and 2 years of age. While no firm, interpretable factor structure was obtained at 6 months, analyses identified two factors which were identical at 1 and 2 years: one factor included Mood, Approach, Adaptability and Distractibility, and the other factor included Activity, Approach and Intensity. The factors were similar but not identical to the NYLS Easy‐Difficult Child and the Slow‐to‐Warm‐Up Child patterns. Furthermore, the current results corroborated the findings of several other factor analytic studies, which in total suggests two temperament patterns to be generally relevant during early childhood: one pattern consisting of Mood, Approach and Adaptability, and the other of Activity and Intensity.
A FURTHER REPORT OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE RELIABILITY OF MARKING OF GCE EXAMINATIONS
Authors: MURPHY R. J. L.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper represents an extension of a previous report (Murphy, 1978) of investigations into the reliability of marking of GCE examinations. Results are presented relating to mark‐re‐mark investigations in 20 different examination subjects carried out over a period of four years. In each case a sample of examination scripts had been re‐marked by a senior GCE examiner a short time after the normal GCE marking procedures had been completed. The results are analysed in terms of correlations between the original marks and the re‐marks. In the discussion of these results contrasts are drawn between the levels of marking reliability reported both for different examination subjects and for the different types of examination papers used within the various examinations. Finally the findings are discussed in terms of their implications for users of GCE examination grades.
SOME COGNITIVE COMPONENTS OF THE DIAGNOSTIC THINKING PROCESS
Authors: GALE JANET
Published: May 2011

Summary. The importance of including the development of clinical problem‐solving skills as an aim of undergraduate medical education is increasingly stressed. However, in order to facilitate such skills, they must themselves be known. The model of hypothesis generation and testing provides only a generalised description. The present study identifies 14 separate cognitive components of the diagnostic thinking process. No statistically significant differences are found between groups of final year clinical medical students, house officers and post‐MRCP registrars in incidence of these, although it is indicated that the relative use of such thinking processes by individuals or from case to case might differ. Such individual differences might derive from varying degrees of clinical experience. The range of diagnostic thinking processes, however, is characteristic of all mature adult cognition. Medical education, therefore, need not teach these processes as such. In addition, it cannot be prescriptive but must facilitate in the student self‐awareness and self‐monitoring skills for the entire range of potential thinking processes, some subset of which might be employed at any one time.
THE INTERPRETATION OF ADJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS BY RETARDED AND NORMAL READERS
Authors: DALGLEISH B. W. J. , ENKELMANN SUSAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Reading retarded children aged 8 to 12, whom previous research had shown to be deficient in their knowledge of pronominal reference rules, received oral presentations of sentences containing three kinds of adjective complements. In some the sentence subject was the logical subject of the dependent verb (S‐type: Mickey is happy to bite). In others the sentence subject was the logical object of the dependent verb (O‐type: Donald is easy to bite). There were also ambiguous sentences, interpretable as either S‐ or O‐ types (A‐type: Mickey is bad to bite). All age levels demonstrated knowledge of the S and O rules, and could apply either rule to the ambiguous sets. The difference in mean performance of retarded and normal readers was not significant, though there were fewer errorless performers among the retarded. The differences in knowledge of pronominal reference and adjective complements rules are explained in terms of the absence from the latter of surface structure cues reinforcing an initial incorrect rule.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEATIONAL FLUENCY: SOME NORMATIVE DATA
Authors: HARGREAVES D. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. 199 schoolchildren in five groups at 1‐year intervals between the ages of 7 and 12 completed a verbal and a figural divergent test along with the Draw‐a‐Man test in a preliminary normative investigation of age trends in ideational fluency. The broadly consistent increases with age found on the verbal divergent and Draw‐a‐Man tests were not present on the figural divergent test, and there were no consistent effects of sex on these results. Further normative data are needed to clarify the relationship between age and ideational fluency before studies can be meaningfully compared.
A TABLE OF UPPER‐LOWER NUMBER‐RIGHT DIFFERENCE (d) AS AN INDEX OF ITEM DISCRIMINATORY POWER
Authors: OLUIKPE G. C.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper presents a table of item discriminatory values in terms of differences in appropriate responses from equal numbers of subjects in the upper and lower tails of a distribution. The table is based on the difference between the mean scores of equal proportions taken from the opposite tails in a normal distribution. It provides separate significance values for reference with 50, 33.3 and 25 per cent of the sample taken from each tail of the distribution. It provides a means of initially classifying items as poor, fair or good, and then gives a simple method for rank‐ordering accepted items. The table requires the minimum of mathematical ability and is, therefore, recommended especially for hand computation.
THE STIMULATION OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH CO‐OPERATIVE TASK PERFORMANCE
Authors: VALIANT GAYLE , GLACHAN M. , EMLER N.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Seventy‐eight children, identified as pre‐operational with respect to multiple classification skills and understanding of left‐right relations, were provided with one of three forms of training. Two of these involved children working in pairs on classification problems (collective conditions), the difference between the two conditions being where each child stood in relation to the other and to the task. In the third form of training, children attempted the same problems but worked alone (individual condition). During post‐tests, children trained in Collective conditions progressed significantly more than those trained in the Individual condition with respect to both multiple classification skills and conceptions of left‐right relations. Results are discussed in terms of the role of social interaction in cognitive development.
TIME VARIABLES IN CLASSROOM RESEARCH: A STUDY OF EIGHT URBAN SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CLASSES
Authors: FITZ‐GIBBON CAROL T. , CLARK K. S.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The use of time by teachers and pupils was examined in eight secondary mathematics classes by systematic observations made during a week of lessons in the autumn and again in the spring. Time lost from instructional activities was assessed for each classroom in terms of a ‘time filter’ from which was derived a figure indexing the probable value of the minutes per week a typical child in the class spent actively ‘on‐task’. On average this figure was slightly more than half the minutes per week scheduled for mathematics. Results were discussed in terms of the stability of the observations and the interpretation of time‐use data.
PUPILS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHERS' STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR
Authors: O'HAGAN F. J. , EDMUNDS G.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A booklet describing a variety of control strategies used by teachers in dealing with disruptive behaviours was administered to 60 male and 60 female comprehensive school pupils in order to ascertain their opinions along several evaluative dimensions. The results showed that initiatory aggressive strategies which may appear to be effective in controlling misbehaviour could well have deleterious consequences in other ways. Males declared themselves more likely to misbehave than females. The overall findings would tend to suggest that in the normal comprehensive school it is as important to be aware of potentially disturbing situations as it is to be aware of potentially disruptive pupils.
SELECTED COURSE CONTENT, COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE FACTORS AND CLASSROOM BEHAVIOURS OF ADULT LEARNERS
Authors: LAM Y. L. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The relative impacts of course content, cognitive and affective factors on classroom behaviours of adult learners have been examined in the context of a systems paradigm from a longitudinal perspective. Based on the data of six classes in the evening programmes sponsored by the Department of Continuing Education of Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, the analysis confirmed empirical linkages between input (course content) and process variables (cognitive and affective) with the output (behavioural) variables, though the relationships were far more complex than first conceived. Findings also suggested that feedback based on observation of behaviours hold significant promises of improvement of instruction to minimise frustration of adult participants and attrition problems.
MUSICAL ABILITY AND MENTAL SUBNORMALITY: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
Authors: McLEISH J. , HIGGS G.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In an earlier study, we reported on the musical ability of mentally retarded children. The present report extends the testing to a larger sample, more diversified in terms of age. The 121 children tested were drawn from four special schools. They range in age from 8 to 16, in IQ from 40 to 85. A factor of musical ability, independent of intelligence, is identified.
EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM PSYCHOSOCIAL ENVIRONMENT ON STUDENT LEARNING
Authors: FRASER B. J. , FISHER D. L.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A strong tradition of prior research on psychosocial classroom learning environments in various countries has established that student classroom environment perceptions account for appreciable amounts of variance in cognitive and affective learning outcomes, often beyond that attributable to pre‐test performance, general ability, or both. Although the Learning Environment Inventory is the instrument most widely used in previous studies, remarkably little evidence is available about relationships between students' learning and their perceptions on the My Class Inventory (MCI), a simplified version of the LEI for use with 8‐ to 12‐year‐olds. The present study explored environment‐learning relationships using the MCI among a sample of 2,305 12‐year‐olds in 100 classrooms. Using the class mean as the unit of analysis, responses to the MCI during the year were related to performance on two cognitive outcomes and one affective outcome at the end of the year (with corresponding beginning‐of‐year outcome performance and general ability controlled in some analyses). Multiple, semipartial multiple and canonical correlation analyses revealed significant relationships between learning outcomes and perceptions on the MCI.
RESEARCH ON PROGRESSIVE TEACHING
Authors: ANTHONY W. S.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Much of the variation in results of survey research on progressive teaching can be explained by noting that some of the researchers used methods implying that they selected, as progressive, teaching that was successful in terms of pupil interest, whereas other researchers did not use such methods. These two kinds of research give somewhat different results in terms of educational achievement. Pupil interest appears to be a condition for the relative effectiveness of progressive teaching.
CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS FOR TASK PERFORMANCE: THE EFFECTS OF PERFORMANCE OUTCOME AND SEX OF SUBJECT
Authors: CALLAGHAN CAROL , MANSTEAD A. S. R.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Each of 70 sixth‐form grammar school students was allocated to one of four treatments produced by the factorial combination of manipulations of their performance (success or failure) on two successive anagram tasks. Prior to each task, self‐reports of anxiety and performance expectations were obtained. After each task, subjects were asked to make attributions about the outcome. When both tasks were completed, subjects were questioned about future performance on similar tasks. Predictions concerning attributions were derived from “logical” and “self‐serving” analyses of how such attributions are made. In general, the results on the attributional measures tended to support the predictions derived from the self‐serving analysis. Sex differences were found in relation to two of the four attributional measures employed, and in relation to the measures of anxiety about task performance and expectations concerning future performance. Subjects were also asked to make attributions about the outcomes of recent public examinations, and here females ascribed greater causality than did males to the factors of help from teachers and help from home. Possible reasons for inconsistencies between previous findings concerning sex differences in achievement‐related attributions and those obtained in the present study are discussed.
ACHIEVEMENT OUTCOME, TASK IMPORTANCE, AND EFFORT AS DETERMINANTS OF STUDENT AFFECT
Authors: McMILLAN J. H. , SPRATT K. F.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Seventy‐five undergraduate students projected their feelings in eight typical achievement situations. Each student described affective responses to one situation, varying in achievement outcome, task importance, and effort. The 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA for affective component scores indicated that perceptions of success/failure accounted for most of the affect reported. Small contributions were found for the following: generalised positive or negative affect related to effort exerted; value positively related to task importance; and surprise related to an interaction between effort and outcome. Implications for the Weiner model of attribution are discussed.
IMAGINATIVE PLAY TRAINING AS AN INTERVENTION METHOD WITH INSTITUTIONALISED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
Authors: UDWIN ORLEE
Published: May 2011

Summary. A group of 17 children who had been removed from deleterious family backgrounds and placed in institutional care were exposed to ten 30‐minute sessions of imaginative play training. When compared with matched controls, the experimental subjects showed significant post‐training increments in levels of imaginative play, positive emotionality, prosocial behaviours, and in measures of divergent thinking and story‐telling skills, and decreases in levels of overt aggression. The variables of age, non‐verbal intelligence and fantasy predisposition were found to influence the subjects' responsiveness to the training programme, with younger, high‐fantasy and high‐IQ children being most susceptible to the influence of the training exercises.
TEACHER EXPECTATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF POLYNESIAN AND PAKEHA PUPILS AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO CLASSROOM BEHAVIOUR AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT
Authors: GEORGE ALISON ST.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A study of 90 nine‐year‐olds in five ethnically mixed New Zealand classrooms was undertaken to investigate teachers' perceptions of Polynesian and Pakeha pupils and the relationship of these perceptions to expectations for general ability. Results showed that the Polynesian minority group pupils were perceived less favourably than the Pakeha majority on dimensions reflecting parent‐home factors and academic work skills. In line with this, teachers held lower expectations for the ability of Polynesian pupils than their Pakeha classmates. However, observations of teacher‐pupil interaction showed no ethnic group differences. Despite the absence of any overt discrimination against minority group pupils there were achievement differences favouring the majority group in terms of standardised achievement test performance and in teachers' ratings of achievement at the end of the year. It was concluded that while teacher expectation effects did not severely bias children's learning, negative perceptions and expectations for Polynesian children led to them being treated similarly to others expected to be of low ability and helped to maintain the status quo of lower achievement.
PREADOLESCENT SELF‐CONCEPT: ITS RELATION TO SELF‐CONCEPT AS INFERRED BY TEACHERS AND TO ACADEMIC ABILITY
Authors: MARSH H. W. , PARKER J. W. , SMITH I. D.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The purpose of this study is to relate student self‐concept in seven different areas to teacher ratings of student self‐concept in the same areas and to academic ability. The results from three diverse samples are considered (total N = 958 students). Student‐teacher agreement on student self‐concept varied from modest (r = 0.24 for Relationship With Parents) to good (r = 0.52 for Mathematics Self‐concept) for the seven self‐concept dimensions (mean r = 0.40), was higher in academic areas than non‐academic areas, and was particularly good for academic self‐concept in the high SES sample (r = 0.74). A multitrait‐multimethod analysis of this student‐teacher agreement demonstrated the distinctiveness of the seven dimensions and argued for the multidimensionality of self‐concept. Academic abilities (reading achievement, IQ, and teacher ratings of ability in different areas) tended to be uncorrelated with non‐academic dimensions of self‐concept, moderately correlated with the academic dimensions, and most highly correlated with the academic dimension of self‐concept that most closely matched the particular academic ability. These correlations were largest in the high SES sample where several correlations exceeded 0.7. Further discussion suggested possible reasons why the results of this study provide better support for the construct validity of self‐concept than is typically reported.
PROCESS MEASURES OF PROBLEM AND NON‐PROBLEM CHILDREN'S CLASSROOM BEHAVIOUR: THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHER BEHAVIOUR VARIABLES
Authors: FRY P. S.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Teacher‐pupil interactions were observed in the classrooms for a four‐month period to determine similarities and differences in teacher‐pupil interactions of problem and non‐problem children. Analyses of 15 teacher and pupil process measure variables were conducted to assess the stability of teacher‐pupil interactions in a number of relevant behavioural measures and to determine the development of any clear trends in teachers' interactions with problem and non‐problem children. Results suggest that a certain deterioration is noticeable in teachers' interactions with problem children receiving more negative affect and less sustaining feedback from their teachers over the course of four months. Observations of problem children's behavioural interactions suggest an increase in serious misdemeanours and a corresponding decline in sustained attention. Educational implications of the study are discussed in terms of the mental health needs of children.
STRUCTURE AND PROCESS IN PUPILS' ESSAYS: A GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANISATION OF EXTENDED PROSE
Authors: COSTA PEREIRA D. J. V. , MASKILL R.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A method for analysing structure and process in prose is suggested using algorithms based on graph theory and rules based in syntax. The method has been applied to analyse the essays written by 52 fourteen‐year‐old pupils on a newly learned topic in chemistry. Standard structural and process paradigms were specified based on the reproductive and constructive views of memory and the serial and parallel views of information processing. The pupils' actual behaviour was compared with these. The results showed no distinction between the reproductive/constructive paradigms of memory but showed that the pupils processed information in their essays in a manner much closer to a parallel processing strategy. Limitations of the experiment and the techniques used are discussed and improvements and extensions are suggested.
CHILDREN'S USE OF FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS TO SOLVE SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE AND ROTATION PROBLEMS
Authors: IVES S. W. , RAKOW J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. To examine further the use of feature descriptions in spatial problem‐solving, 96 children (equal numbers of boys and girls, kindergartners and second graders) were asked to solve either a spatial perspective task (indicating another's view) or a rotation task (imagining an object's rotation and one's own subsequent view) through either verbal description or picture selection. The results indicate that verbalisation leads to substantially more correct responses on all conditions of the perspective task, but only selectively in the rotation task. The results suggest that language facilitates performance in the perspective task because it maps on to feature descriptions (e.g., front vs. back of an object) which greatly facilitate perspective task performance. A pattern of interactions between task, response media, the use of objects with and without familiar feature descriptions and the availability of simple or complex feature descriptions to describe the correct response suggests two important factors in determining complexity in spatial problem‐solving: the simplicity and explicitness of feature descriptions.
INTENTIONALITY AND FIELD DEPENDENCE IN CHILDREN'S MORAL JUDGMENTS
Authors: HOWES M. , MORGAN VICKY
Published: May 2011

Summary. According to Piaget, the child fully grasps the concept of intention somewhere between the stages of moral realism and moral autonomy. In learning to use intentions to make moral judgments he must be able to identify them as the crucial elements in the situation. Field dependence was related to moral judgmental ability in children between the ages of 6.10 and 8.2 years. Moral judgment stories and the Embedded Figures Test were used to identify the intermediate stages of production and mediational deficiency, in which the child has the concept of intention but fails to use it consistently. Production deficiency may be due, primarily, to an inability to select the appropriate cues in competition with more salient ones.
A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION OF FIELD DEPENDENCE‐INDEPENDENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORMAL OPERATIONAL THOUGHT
Authors: FLEXER B. K. , ROBERGE J. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Group Embedded Figures Test and paper‐and‐pencil measures of three formal operations schemes were administered to 120 pupils three times at one‐year intervals. Analyses of correct responses indicated that the impact of field dependence‐independence on the development of formal operational thought, apart from that explained by 1Q differences, was inconsequential. Test‐retest correlations revealed a high degree of stability of performance on the Group Embedded Figures Test, but consistency of performance on the three measures of formal thought was minimal. Classification analyses confirmed the findings of recent cross‐sectional investigations of the consolidation of formal operations schemes.
THE EFFECTS OF HEADINGS IN TEXT ON RECALL, SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL
Authors: HARTLEY J. , TRUEMAN M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper summarises the results from nine experiments on headings. The experiments centre on three main variables (i) the purpose of the task (recall, search or retrieval from familiar and unfamiliar text); (ii) the position of the headings (marginal or embedded); and (iii) the nature of the headings (statements or questions). The results showed that headings aided recall, search and retrieval from the text used in these experiments, but that the position of the headings (marginal or embedded) had no effect. The kind of headings (questions or statements) had no differential effect with readers of different ability but low‐ability participants appeared to do better with headings as questions in the recall tasks.
IN TWO MINDS—ARTS AND SCIENCE DIFFERENCES AT SIXTH‐FORM LEVEL
Authors: BAMBER J. H. , BILL J. M. , BOYD FLORENCE E. , CORBETT W. D.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A variety of cognitive, cultural, attitudinal and personality tests were administered to two unrelated samples of sixth‐form arts and science specialists attending grammar schools in Northern Ireland. Scientists were found to perform better on the cognitive and cultural variables; to endorse theoretical and economic values and to have lower Neuroticism and higher Psychoticism scores. Arts specialists endorsed aesthetic and social values to a greater extent and religious values marginally when compared with scientists. The implications of these findings are discussed.
INTRINSIC ROLES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Authors: YOUNGMAN M. B.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In a study whose prime objective was to develop a self‐report job description instrument for secondary school teachers it was also possible to use the descriptions obtained to define actual teaching roles. The following report opens with an extended discussion of the principles underlying the design and analysis of this study of teachers' roles, emphasising the naturalistic stance adopted. It then presents the results of a centroid relocation cluster analysis which enabled six intrinsic teaching roles to be postulated. Their existence is substantiated by referring to separate analyses of two samples (N = 232 and N = 133) and to two different analyses of the main sample (N = 133). To assist interpretation the six roles are split into three status roles (administrative, pastoral and departmental) and three style roles (practical, involved and confined). Discussion of the six roles relates activity patterns to various teacher status and experience characteristics, as well as to expectations and findings in the job analysis literature.
INTER‐RATER RELIABILITY AND THE INFANT RATING SCALE (IRS)
Authors: POVEY R. M. , LATHAM DOROTHY , CLIFT S. M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The manual to the Infant Rating Scale (Lindsay, 1981) discusses the reliability of the scale only in terms of test‐retest data. The authors argue that information on inter‐rater reliability is at least as important to the test user as the test‐retest data and they provide an indication of the scale's reliability based on ratings given independently by two teachers on 88 infant pupils. The reported level of inter‐rater reliability is considered to be most satisfactory.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXTRAVERSION AND ABILITY: ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM A LARGE‐SCALE LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF CHILDREN TESTED AT 10–11 AND 14–15 YEARS
Authors: ANTHONY W. S.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Following Eysenck and Cookson's study of the personality and ability of children aged 10–11 years, Cookson collected scores from some 1,700 of the same children at the age of 14–15 years. The present paper presents and analyses the resulting correlations between Eysenckian extraversion and ability. The results confirm a finding from previous Cattellian test data, that the more intelligent children decline in relative extraversion scores, and cast doubt on an Eysenckian suggestion that gradually introverts show higher I.Q.