A longitudinal study of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-revised over a six-year period

The study investigated the stability of the WISC-R IQ scores of 32 exceptional students (24 males, 8 females) over a six-year interval. The sample was composed of 20 learning disabled and 12 mentally handicapped students who ranged in age from 6–5 to 16–11. Analyses of variance for repeated measures and product-moment correlations were used to analyze the data. Test-retest findings indicated that the rs ranged from .53 to .87, with a median value of .74, with four of the nine values below .70. Implications for clinicians in terms of the importance of reevaluation of exceptional students are discussed.     

E‐citations: actionable identifiers and scholarly referencing

This document discusses the role of ‘actionable’ identifiers such as the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in enabling scholarly citations in a digital environment. Citation is a subset of the general wider concept of linkage, but an interesting one for two reasons: it is a practical example being worked on today, and it demonstrates that linkage only between digital entities is insufficient for scholarly citation. It also points the way to future extensions of the concept of linkage, with new uses being made of internet resources, and tools which can support these new patterns of citation.     

Investigating the nature of formal reasoning in chemistry: Testing Lawson's multiple hypothesis theory

Lawson (1992) posited the multiple hypothesis theory to explain the essence of scientific reasoning. According to this theory, the essence of scientific reasoning is “the ability to initiate reasoning with more than one antecedent condition.” The present study tests the assumptions of this theory with high school students in general experience areas and in chemistry. The findings are generally in support of the theory's assumptions. This article also contains a theoretical discussion which points out how the theory needs to be extended before it can justifiably “constitute the core of a viable alternative theory of reasoning.” © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 1067–1081, 1997.     

Talent development,work habits,and career exploration of Chinese middle‐school adolescents: development of the Career and Talent Development Self‐Efficacy Scale

This article describes the development of an instrument – the Career and Talent Development Self‐Efficacy Scale (CTD‐SES) – for assessing students’ self‐efficacy in applying life skills essential for personal talent development, acquisition of positive work habits, and career exploration. In Study 1, data were obtained from a large sample of Chinese middle‐school students (N=15,113) in Grades 7–9 in Hong Kong. The CTD‐SES is an 18‐item questionnaire with subscales containing items that address students’ orientations toward developing their own talents, acquiring and applying positive work habits, and exploring their career possibilities. Evidence is provided for internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure of the CTD‐SES. Goodness of fit statistics provided support for a three‐primary‐factor‐plus‐higher‐factor model, and this solution was used in the statistical analyses. The data also indicated that students with plans for university study reported significantly higher scores than those without on all three domains of career and talent development. In Study 2 (N=308) Grade 10 high‐ability students’ scores in CTD‐SES were correlated with scores in career decision self‐efficacy and academic performance. The development and validation of CTD‐SES is the first step toward investigating career exploration, work habits, and talent development among Asian middle‐school adolescents.