As a result of the high price paid in time and concern by students, parents and educators in educating a child in French Immersion only to find that s/he would be better off in an English classroom, a predictor is needed to decide early in a child's life whether or not s/he is a good candidate for French Immersion. A 'good candidate' would be someone who would be able to learn French and , as a corollary, not be handicapped academically by being instructed in French. The present study is an examination of the L2 learning aspect of French Immersion. In particular this paper will explore the possibility that 'fast mapping',the ability to quickly make a partial representation of the meaning, form and use of a word after hearing it only a few times, may be a predictor of success in acquiring a second language irrespective of overall academic achievement. In a procedure adapted from Dollaghan (1985) eighteen students in Grade 2 French Immersion, seventeen in Grade 3 French Immersion and five former French Immersion students now in the Grade 3 English program were exposed to an unusually shaped, as yet unnamed object in the course of a hiding game. This object was randomly assigned one of a set of nonsense names. The children were then administered a 10 minute oral French Comprehension Test as a distractor before being tested for their comprehension and production of the new word. The scores on these tasks, which are an indication of "fast mapping" skill, did not correlate with i) number of years exposure to a second language, ii) age, iii) teacher ratings of oral French or iv) academic ability, v) oral French comprehension or vi) inclusion in French Immersion. This suggests that this set of fast mapping tasks is not a good predictor of success in second language learning or French Immersion. More research is needed to ascertain the reciprocal effect of L2 learning on fast mapping skills, the development of fast mapping skills with age, and the effect of a more complex fast mapping task on the fast mapping performance of school age children. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

Success For Life (SFL) is a brain research-based program for children, birth through age six. This research examined the development and implementation of SFL in 13 early childhood settings. Participants were 24 female early childhood teachers and 146 (73 male) children. Teachers included seven infant, four toddler, nine preschool and four kindergarten teachers. Children included infants(n=29), toddlers(n=27), and prek/kindergartners (n=90). A Request for Proposals was disseminated to identify possible implementation sites. After participation was confirmed, teachers attended a full day's training which included a description of brain development/function, the latest brain research, how to implement SFL and other logistics of the study. Program implementation occurred over approximately four months. A field site coordinator visited each site bimonthly to provide on-going technical assistance. This was an intervention project with a pre and post implementation design. Four instruments were used: a teacher questionnaire, a classroom environment measure, a child measure and teacher journals. Results suggested that teachers became more knowledgeable about brain development research and about how children grow and learn. Teachers were better able to make connections between brain research findings and how to apply these findings to their programs and daily activities. Likewise, the environment measure indicated that teachers were better able to arrange environments for learning. They reported that children showed significant increases in skills development and performance in the following areas: physical mastery, social relations/interactions, cognitive development, and language/communications. Additionally, teachers reported improvements in emotional expression and well-being among infants and toddlers. Toddlers and preschoolers showed significant increases in creative/ artistic expression. Finally, teachers indicated that preschoolers showed increases in initiative, use of logic/mathematics skills, and musical coordination and movement. Research findings suggest that Success For Life is able to bridge the gap between theory and practice and benefits children, teachers and programs.

A child's ability to learn in school and school performance are affected by various factors. Variables that affect learning and academic performance in 46 children, 4 - 7 years old, were examined. Children, parents, and teachers completed questionnaires rating children's attitudes and behavior toward school. Children completed a computerized matching-to-sample (MTS) task. The MTS trained the children to form 3 stimulus classes. One stimulus class included three arbitrary stimuli, the others contained a positively or negatively valenced stimulus, a school-related stimulus, and an arbitrary stimulus. Class formation performance was assessed. Rate of learning predicted attitudes toward school, school attitudes predicted academic performance; however a hypothesized mediation effect of attitudes was not demonstrated. No significant differences in rate of forming stimulus classes containing emotionally valenced and school stimuli were found. Future directions for intervention in the early education of students who have poor attitudes toward school are discussed.

This study developed propositions concerning the nature of academic tasks as they are experienced in classrooms. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to analyze academic task structures in two language-arts classes, one designated as average-ability and one designated as high-ability. Few studies have concentrated on tasks as they are experienced in classrooms. While propositions concerning task systems are sparse in any curriculum area, language arts classes would seem to be particularly appropriate for supplying information about a wide range of task types. The present research thus described the nature of tasks in two junior high language arts classes.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and to what extent free association following exposure to written material would affect the memory of that material, and whether the effect upon memory would vary with age of the subject. A test of learning (immediate retention) resulted in a significant difference in performance between young and old women--the older learning less. Free association was not found to be significant as a mnemonic aid to either age group, and was compared with characteristics of other more common mnemonics. Suggestions for additional research are discussed.

There appears to be some confusion whether adolescents are able to perceive their personal abilities realistically when aspiring toward career goals. This study will attempt to relate perceptions of students and parents with regard to student data and career choices. Are career choices of eighth grade students commensurate with personal abilities? The following questions will be studied with reference to perceptions regarding career related items. (1) Will the responses of high and medium to low ability students differ?; (2) Will the responses of male and female students differ?; (3) Will the responses of students having completed the career exploration course vary from those who have not?; (4) Will the responses given by parents of high and medium to low ability students differ?; (5) Will the responses given by parents of mae and female students differ?; (6) Will the responses given by parents of students having completed the career exploration course vary from those who have not?

The primary purpose was to determine whether there were differences in the amount of change produced by two plans of elementary school organization for the instruction of rapid learners in order to develop a sound policy of organizing the elementary school. A secondary purpose was to determine the effects of the two plans on other pupils in the sections being studied.

This study investigated the usefulness of the Black Box Test of Learning Ability as an indicator of children's performance on math and writing tasks. Twelve second grade students, seven to eight years of age, demonstrated naivete on both tasks and were subsequently individually administered the learning test. The subjects were divided into two groups, and each group received a different task presentation order. Composite scores were derived for all subjects and tasks, and individual learning curves were compared. The combined Black Test score produced a significantly high correlate to math (rho = .733) and writing (rho = .841) than either the paired associate or sequential learning tasks alone. Although the length of the learning curve of the BBT was indicative of the learning curve lengths for each school task, trial by trial learning curve comparisons were less reliable. Analysis of these data suggested that the method of instruction (i.e., the amount of attempted practice and appropriate feedback) was the major factor correlating the Black Box Test to each school task. It was suggested that the most useful assessment of "learning ability" would employ a behavioral sample of the task itself, rather than utilize a correlated activity.

The learning styles of 30 urban and 30 rural black children were rated by their teachers, using the Learning Style Identification Inventory. The results obtained frtiin the teachers of the rural sample were found to be inaccurate. It was therefore not possible to make comparisons with previous findings. The results of the urban sample suggest that, on the Abstract-Concrete dimension their learning styles tended towards the Concrete end of the dimension, and on the Verbal-imaginal dimension, their ratings tended towards the Imaginal end of the dimension. An analysis of variance and Bonferroni / test indicated that these children were rated significantly more Imaginal than Verbal and significantly more Concrete than Abstract These findings are in contrast with previous research in other countries and tentatively suggest that urban children in South Africa are functioning in a manner more consistent with findings regarding learning styles of rural children in other countries. This has implications for teachers and the teaching styles of teachers in urban schools.

This study was conducted for the purpose of determining whether there is a significant difference in the reading and arithmetic achievement of boys and girls in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in the Lodi Elementary School District. To put the purpose in question form: Is there a significant difference in the reading and arithmetic achievement of boys and girls in grades four, five, and six in the Lodi Elementary Schools? In formulating plans for the study, similar studies were examined. Literature concerning reading and arithmetic differences between boys and girls was read.