This conceptual framework for occupational competence and qualification views competence as individual attribute, job requirement, or competence-in-use. Other components include cognition and metacognition, developmental rather than adaptive focus, and creation of a learning environment that allows reproductive, productive, and creative levels of…

Discusses the use of graphics in instruction and concludes that cosmetic and motivational graphics can be more realistic and detailed for affective goals, while schematic graphics may be best for the more cognitive functions of focusing attention and presenting actual content. Domains of learning, mental models, and visualization are examined.…

Examined infants' use of configural and physical knowledge in segregating three-dimensional adjacent displays. Found that infants do use configural knowledge: they expect similar parts to belong to same unit and dissimilar parts to belong to distinct units. Also found that physical knowledge, such as impenetrability and support, influences their…

The ability of 16 school-age children with visual impairments and their sighted peers to recognize faces was compared. Although no intergroup differences were found in ability to identify entire faces, the visually impaired children were at a disadvantage when part of the face, especially the eyes, was not visible. Degree of visual acuity also…

Tests request strategies used by speakers of Japanese and British English in two culturally neutral situations likely to trigger a request. Concludes that the degree of imposition goes on a par with the number of politeness strategies but that there are differences in the types of strategies used: the British use conventional forms and supportive…

Analyzed construction of approximative expressions with two numerals in Dutch. Found that choice of number words was not arbitrary and that various kinds of factors are involved. Results suggest that analogue magnitude code is used in estimating and comparing, and human cognition seems to be able to perform simple calculations with quantities,…

Describes second graders' responses to finding the sum of the numbers from 1 through 10 after reading the book, Ten Black Dots. Includes student work demonstrating their problem solving. (MKR)

Describes two variants of the form-priming paradigm (direct and mediated form priming) and summarizes the results obtained with each. With both variants, participants are presented with a target, to which a response is required, preceded by a prime. (28 references) (Author/CK)

Effects on the event-related potential (ERP) waveform of differences in stimuli (task difficulty) and threshold were studied with 35 undergraduates performing a visual inspection time task and 30 performing a pitch discrimination task. In both tasks, ERP differences related to threshold were temporally localized differences in waveform shape. (SLD)

Combined fading with the introduction of prompts designed to encourage learners to identify the underlying principle illustrated in each worked-out solution step. Across 2 experiments, this combination produced medium to large effects on near and far transfer without requiring additional time on task. Thus, the instructional procedure is highly…

Examines whether stereotypes can threaten in private settings. Results revealed that minority students performed worse than same-gender students in both public and private environments. Finding supports the concept of threatening intellectual environments and shows how far reaching the effects of stereotypes can be. Discusses these findings in…

This study contrasted development of processing speed in 122 children between 7.5 and 11.8 years with learning disabilities and that of 206 nondisabled controls. No differences were found in relation to age in processing speed development in the two groups. Findings suggest that underlying etiologies for the normal developmental change in…

Draws attention to psycholinguistic hypotheses connected with the mental lexicon and the implications for those actively working with the teaching of vocabulary. (Author/VWL)

This analysis of transcripts of interviews with a specific group of information seekers (pregnant women) identifies the context-specific discursive techniques that they used in enhancing or undermining the authority of peer and professional information sources. (Contains 74 references.) (MES)

Two experiments examined whether the correlation between advances on theory-of-mind and executive function tasks results from the tasks posing the same executive demands among 3- to 6- year-olds. Findings indicated that performance on the dimensional change card-sorting task (a measure of executive function) was correlated with performance on the…