Relations between aptitude variables and school achievement were investigated using a model of ability that permits simultaneous identification of general and specific abilities. Subjects were 866 Swedish students who were given aptitude tests in grade 6; results of that test were compared with course grades collected in grade 9. The usefulness of…

Presents samples of educational material adapted for laboratory use on the subject of the pH scale, dilution skills, and their relevance to biology. The experiments were developed for use in both ninth-grade heterogeneous and tracked classes in biology. Students were assessed for academic achievement in relation to their operational reasoning…

Investigated factors associated with academic success and coping of low-income, urban, minority adolescents transitioning from 8th to 9th grade. Interviews with high- and low-performing students indicated that the transition brought challenges related to school, friends, and family. High-performing students coped more actively and had a wider…

Whether there is a gender-by-item interaction that makes easy mathematics test items easier for females than for males and difficult items harder for females than for males was tested in two studies, involving 10,321 eighth graders and 5332 ninth graders and results from nine mathematics tests. The hypothesis was generally supported, as discussed.…

Discusses a quilt project in which ninth-grade English-as-a-Second-Language students wrote, drew, and talked about what they knew, remembered, and felt on the topic "Where I Came From," creating an anthology and a quilt. Describes how students' speaking practice, written language abilities, and self-confidence improved. (SR)

Describes a pilot study aimed at exploring the possibility of introducing simulation-based homework into junior high school ninth grade science classes studying electric circuits. Analyzes students' views in relation to their prior computer experience and their achievement, and discusses results from questionnaires and interviews that show…

Explains that, by including writing in the art curriculum, students learn to plan art assignments and organize their thoughts. Recommends introducing writing to the younger grades because art and writing will become a natural combination for the students. Gives tips for beginning an art/writing curriculum and suggests topics for assignments. (CMK)

Surveyed teachers and their students from East and West Berlin, examining whether liberal teachers were producing violent, right-wing youth, primarily due to permissive teaching style. Results found that liberal and permissive teachers did not produce such students. Teachers who emphasized a universalistic, pluralistic political value conviction,…

This chapter addresses how critical choices in the math and science pipeline can be traced back to adolescents' self-concepts of abilities and values at the beginning of high school. (Contains 3 figures.)

Purpose: Literacy plays an important role in the development of language in school-age children and adolescents. For example, by reading a variety of books, magazines, and newspapers, students gain exposure to complex vocabulary, and reading becomes a prime opportunity for learning new words. Despite the importance of reading for lexical …

This study was designed to determine if a female physical educator's appearance of body fatness affects 1) the cognitive performance of junior high school students on a test of health-related fitness knowledge, and 2) student attitudes toward the instructor. Ninety-three seventh through ninth grade students from two schools, participated in a…

Curricular materials of the past have much to offer researchers and educators today. In this article, I examine two pieces of instructional material, a textbook entitled "People of Denver" and a unit on the inequalities of opportunities available to minority groups in Denver. Both these items were written in Denver, by Denver teachers at…

Coordinate graphs of time-series data have been significant in the history of statistical graphing and in recent school mathematics curricula. A survey task to construct a graph to represent data about temperature change over time was administered to 133 students in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. Four response levels described the degree to which students…

Reading is an essential part of science literacy, yet teachers often face challenges in incorporating reading in science classrooms. In this article, the authors share how they brought reading back into their science classrooms. They designed four quarterly reading projects with yearlong literacy routines that they used successfully with their…

Claude Steeles' stereotype threat hypothesis posits that when there are negative stereotypes about the intellectual capacity of certain (stigmatised) groups, members of that group suffer aversive consequences; group members who are most strongly identified with the stigmatised domain in question (e.g., intellectual or academic ability) are those…