Eighth-grade Israeli students' social class had no effect on self-concept or intelligence quotient but was associated significantly with teachers' judgments of the students' academic performance. (Author/DB)

Assessed the relative contribution of gender and gender role orientation to empathy and its development in 119 Israeli 8th and 11th graders. When the contribution of masculinity/femininity was covaried, empathy was found unrelated to gender. Findings are discussed in terms of socialization of emotions and gender role orientation. (SLD)

Describes a study of eighth graders that examined the effect of the use of a linked multiple representation software program on student conceptions of algebraic functions, including graphing techniques. Results of classroom observations and paper-and-pencil tests are discussed, and the adapted curriculum used in the experiment is described. (17…

The effectiveness of the Program for Fostering of Reading and Thinking for disadvantaged adolescents in Israel was assessed during a controlled study using 133 eighth and ninth graders. The study assessed verbal reasoning exercises, special training effects, and various types of texts and cognitive operations. (TJH)

Examined school career guidance among 210 male, primary school graduates from 10 Israeli state schools, 125 from schools in affluent neighborhoods and 85 from schools in poorer neighborhoods. Revealed that students' ethnicity and labeling as problematic directly affected guidance by counselors only in poor neighborhoods. Findings suggest…

Prepared by a team of Haifa teacher trainers, this article analyzes 11 English textbooks, showing in tabular form the strengths and weaknesses of each. Criteria included presentation of language skills, vocabulary, grammar, communicative activities, and dictionary skills. (LB)

A project carried out with seventh- and eighth-grade students in a religious Jerusalem school identified English words of Semitic origin, preferably Hebrew. English words that were already part of the students' vocabulary were also Hebraicized and used in sentences. Word lists are included. (11 references) (LB)

Describes a study to diagnose grade 8 (n=185) and grade 10 (n=170) Israeli students' difficulties in causal thinking while studying biology. The two main difficulties found are (1) inability to organize events according to their correct temporal sequence and (2) inability to identify an event that had been caused by another event. (MDH)