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…

Analyzes the conversation of sixth grade children in literature response groups. Finds and describes two distinctive gendered styles of talk about literature, the predominate female mode of response being the "discourse of feeling," and the predominate male mode of response being the "discourse of action." Discusses pedagogy…

A study investigated the reading interests of fourth and sixth grade students of above-average reading achievement. Subjects, 44 fourth graders and 39 sixth graders in an urban environment, responded to a reading interest inventory containing 25 categories. The sample was separated into two groups, an experimental group which attained 60 or higher…

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…

The study found that although field independent and field dependent sixth grade students had equal prior knowledge of economic concepts, field independent students learned more than field dependent students from "Trade-Offs." Males were more field independent than females. Although males scored higher on the posttest, the difference was…

Understanding of the principle of verticality was tested by having 246 sixth-grade students draw a pendulum on pictures of an abstract shape similar to a steeple. Girls performed more poorly than boys. Verticality was apparently much better understood by subjects than horizontality, also tested to provide a comparison. (Author)

Examines whether using a combined silent reading-listening mode to administer the "Social Studies Inference Test" optimized information gathering. Finds that the combined modality produced more correct inferences than did silent reading alone. Finds only one gender difference--girls'"caution score" was higher than that for…

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…

Identifies Newbery books most frequently chosen as favorites by 2,211 sixth-grade students, sixth-grade teachers, and school library media specialists. FInds that boys chose "Maniac Magee" (Jerry Spinelli), girls chose "Number the Stars" (Lois Lowry), and adults chose "The Giver" (Lois Lowry). (RS)

Examines how dimensions of reading motivation related to students' reading activity and achievement. Finds that the strength of the relations between reading motivation and reading achievement was greater for girls and for white students. Demonstrates that reading motivation is multidimensional and should be regarded as such in research and in…

This study considered the effects of gender and cognitive processing capacity on achievement of students at an intermediate school. The capacity test developed by J. M. Furukawa (1970, 1977), which requires examinees to recall word pairs immediately after a brief exposure, was modified for use with these students. The test was adopted because it…

With the majority of mothers of school-aged children now in the labor force, there is much concern about the supervision of these children when the parents are at work and school is out. Of particular concern are children in self-care after school, many of whom spend their time in places other than home. This study contrasted sixth-graders in…

The report addresses the question of the structure of cognitive abilities, i.e., how many different abilities should be identified and the relations between abilities. Models suggested by Spearman, Thurstone, Guilford, Vernon, Cattell-Horn and others are reviewed. By combining features of the Vernon and Cattell-Horn models it is possible to…

This study investigates the effect of word frequency on reading comprehension, in relation to type of content, vocabulary instruction method, student sex, and question type. Subjects, 120 sixth-grade readers, responded to three types of comprehension questions after reading two types of stories. Each subject had previously received one of three…