This paper illustrates the value of applying the law of parsimony to canonical correlation analysis solutions. The primary purpose of parsimony is that the more parsimonious the solution, the more replicable the model will be. The ultimate goal is to estimate an equal or reasonable amount of variance with the smallest variable set possible. A…

Growing out of the belief that children need to acquire tools that will help them understand and interact with people from different cultures, a study examined the effect of a global education unit about Africa on the images of Africa held by sixth grade students, specifically investigating whether such instruction would reduce existing…

Continuing work led by D. A. Infante, A. S. Rancer, and C. J. Wigley, (i.e., Infante, 1982, 1992, 1996) and others, on argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness, this study utilizes two instruments recently adapted for use with adolescent populations (A. J. Roberto & M. Finucane, 1997) to assess the effectiveness of communication training. A…

A sample of 12 recent and older sixth grade social studies textbooks was examined to determine their level of explicitness, one of the criteria used to determine the "friendliness" or comprehensibility of a text. Researchers randomly selected three samples--usually chapters--from each of the 12 textbooks. The Explication Inventory…

A study extended word association methodology beyond isolated word stimuli to investigate the effects of written context on the meanings that proficient readers impart to words. A repeated-measures design was used to assess the responses of 62 sixth grade readers to target words at three levels: no context, limited context, and expanded context.…

This study was an investigation of the influence of word-problem context--the nonmathematical, verbal aspect of a problem--on fourth- and sixth-grade students' preferences for and problem solving performance on word problems. Problems were parallel in mathematical structure but differed by major context category--fantasy and real-world.…

To determine whether or not a statistically significant relationship existed between the learning styles and reading achievement of sixth-grade students in the State of Alabama a battery of four learning style inventories (Gregorc Style Delineator, Hunt Paragraph Completion Method, Renzulli-Smith Learning Style Inventory, and Carbo Reading Style…

Research has shown that the social networks of children are among the major socializing influences within children's environments. This study sought to determine the relationship between early adolescents' social networks and their corresponding value preferences. Subjects were 36 boys and 29 girls in two middle-class sixth-grade classrooms. The…

Four students participated in a two year study (fifth- and sixth-grade) focused on the development of their understanding of multiplication of fractions. During the first year, all students received individualized instruction designed to encourage them to build on their informal knowledge of partitioning to solve problems involving multiplication…

Researchers have pointed to cultural diversity as a major source of conflict in our nation's schools, noting that these conflicts have the potential to escalate into violence. This study seeks to identify the types of intercultural encounters that young people themselves find troublesome. Participants were 906 sixth graders in 12 elementary…

A study investigated the relationship between locus of control and intrinsically motivated reading for children. The entire sixth grade, totalling 53 students, of a parochial school in San Francisco was administered the Children's Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale. A free-choice paperback reading rack provided the measure for…

People's beliefs about the origins of their health, sometimes referred to as health locus of control, have been shown to influence a variety of important behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore the structure of the health locus of control beliefs of children, using the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales. Two samples of…

Three randomly assigned groups of sixth grade students watched a videotaped white female model present sets of responses to a creativity test categorized as low flexibility, low originality; high flexibility, low originality; and high flexibility, high originality. A randomly assigned control group viewed the same videotaped model giving…

The innovation of an instructional program utilizing "The New York Times" to teach reading skills to an ethnically and educationally diverse group of sixth graders resulted in an overwhelmingly positive response from students. The wide range of subject matter in "The Times" had something for every student, regardless of…

Open-ended tasks were used to examine gender differences in complex mathematical problem solving. The results of this study suggest that, overall, males perform better than females, but the gender differences vary from task to task. A qualitative analysis of student responses to those tasks with gender differences showed that male and female…