This study examined relations between children's humor, behavioral characteristics, acceptance by peers in kindergarten and primary school, and self-perceptions. Subjects were 35 kindergarten, 88 fourth grade, and 95 eighth grade Norwegian children. For all students, assessments included sociometric ratings of classmates, teacher assessments of…

This annual report shows the number and percentage of students retained in grade at the conclusion of the 1987-88 school year in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Statistical data were gathered from a principal's report and a student survey. The following findings are presented: (1) in June of 1988, 29,205 students were retained;…

This annual report shows the number and percentage of students retained in grade at the conclusion of the 1988-89 school year in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Statistical data were gathered from a principal's report, a student survey, and earlier reports. The following findings are presented: (1) in June of 1989, 30,413 students…

A year-long thematic unit for fifth-graders combines critical thinking and whole language frameworks to help students retain, understand, and make active use of knowledge within and across domains. Using systematic instruction in critical thinking, students explore the fundamental human concepts of race, sex, age, and power. David…

Results are reported from two studies examining stability and change in children's friendships within the context of two theoretical perspectives: cognitive-developmental and ecological. A total of 112 first- and fourth-grade children participated in the first study; 114 fourth- and eighth-grade children participated in the second. In the fall and…

The present study investigated whether parents' own behaviors and beliefs or their interpretations of their children's behaviors relate more closely to children's own mathematics achievement beliefs. Age and sex differences in children's perceptions of their parents' beliefs were explored. A total of 740 children in fifth through twelfth grades…

Research has shown that small children and other people view old age and the elderly very negatively. Unless parents and teachers begin to initiate changes in thinking, old age will be a tragedy for most of today's youth. In this study, 67 second graders and 59 sixth graders in Mississippi responded to a modified Children's Attitude toward the…

Employing a new procedure for measuring peer concepts, this study investigated the development of differentiation and accuracy of children's concepts of their peers' attributes. Subjects, 18 second-graders, 23 fourth-graders, and 18 sixth-graders, were asked to rate characteristics of their peers in mathematics, athletics (running), and in two…

In two different studies the relationships between study time patterns, retrieval time patterns, and clustering were examined. In the first study middle Socioeconomic Status white students in grades 2 through 5 increased their use of the clustering strategy as a function of the organizational nature of the list. List composition facilitated…

Seventy preschoolers, first, and third graders (average ages of 4 1/2, 6 1/2 and 8 1/2 years, respectively) participated in interviews which used stories and pictures to assess their perceptions of the sources of self-knowledge (self-observation, social feedback, and social comparison). Assessments were made of level of role-taking and salience,…

Children residing in McLean County, Kentucky, and attending grades three through six who either had or had not attended kindergarten were compared in terms of academic aptitude, total reading, language expression, and math application scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). It was found that students who had attended kindergarten…

To test the assumptions that children's perceptions of a news program affect their learning and that their perceptions are in turn affected by age and program context, a study was undertaken involving 435 third through seventh graders. The specific independent and perceptual variables examined were: believability, liking the story and program,…

Student Team Learning instructional techniques (Teams-Games-Tournament, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions, and Jigsaw II) have been extensively researched in six-to-twelve-week classroom experiments and found to have many positive effects. This study examines the effects of the techniques when they are used as the primary instructional method…

THE INTENT OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR OF NURSERY SCHOOL CHILDREN, AND TO DETERMINE HOW THESE ARE RELATED TO BEHAVIOR PATTERNS AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. IN 1930-1938, THE BEHAVIORS OF 138 NURSERY SCHOOL CHILDREN WERE CHARACTERIZED BY THEIR TEACHERS IN TERMS OF 61 MOLAR VARIABLES. SUB-SAMPLES OF THIS GROUP…

FURTHER EXAMINATION WAS MADE OF AN EARLIER RESEARCH FINDING WHICH SHOWED, CONTRARY TO "LOGICAL" ANALYSIS, THAT VERBAL REPRESENTATIONS EVOKE MORE SENSORY RESPONSES THAN DO BLACK AND WHITE LINE DRAWING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SAME STIMULI. THIS RESEARCH FINDING HAD BEEN CONFIRMED BY TWO EARLIER STUDIES WHOSE SUBJECTS WERE ALL WHITE STUDENTS…