A Preliminary Discussion of Russian Émigré Materials at the Library of Congress

Materials at the Library of Congress (LC) by and about Russian émigrés take every form and are distributed throughout the library's many custodial divisions, classification schedules, catalogs, and Web pages. Identifying and locating these materials, whether in print, archival, or even digital collections, may require creative thinking and an understanding of the library's sometimes complex organization. The author attempts here to provide a preliminary overview of the library's Russian émigré collections and some guidance for beginning research on these collections. She includes examples as illustrations and inspiration for further research.     

Home Environment and School Learning

From a systematic search of educational, psychological, and sociological literature, 18 studies of 5,831 school-aged students on the correlation of home environment and learning in eight countries over a 19-year period were selected. Correlations (the units of analysis) of intelligence, motivation, and achievement with indexes of parent stimulation of the student in the home are considerably higher than those with indexes of socioeconomic status (SES); specifically the medians (and ranges) of 92 simple correlations of home environment and learning are .37 (and .02 to .82) and of 62 multipleregression-weighted composites are .44 (and .23 to .81). Jackknifed regression estimates indicate that gender and SES of the sample affect the sizes of the correlations and suggest priorities for future primary investigations. The analyses suggest that ability and achievement are more closely linked to the sociopsychological environment and intellectual stimulation in the home than they are to parental socioeconomic status indicators such as occupation and amount of education.     

Response Strategies of Culturally Deprived Children

The response strategies of culturally deprived children as a function of race, sex, and grade level were investigated. A 2x2x3 balanced factorial design was used with twenty children at each grade level (kindergarten, first grade, second grade) . A test situation allowed children to make choices for each of five pairs of stimuli in a tray before receiving reinforcement for the “correct” choice. Chi-square analysis indicated that eleven of the twelve groups were using strategies in their choices at a rate greater than would be expected by chance alone. The groups differed by grade level in the number of times specific strategies were selected, although total number of strategies used did not differ across grade level, race, and sex. Constant strategies were used more often by kindergarten children while alternating strategies were utilized more often by second grade children.     

A Model of Homework's Influence on the Performance Evaluations of Elementary School Students

This study was the first to test a model of the influence of homework on classroom performance using a sample of elementary school students. A total of 28 teachers in Grades 2 and 4 took part in the study, along with 428 students and parents. The authors used structural equation modeling to examine relationships among variables. Student norms were positively related to the elimination of distractions from homework by parents. Positive student norms, higher student ability, and positive parent attitudes toward homework were all related to greater parent facilitation. Student's attitude toward homework was unrelated to home and community factors but was related positively to parent attitudes toward homework. Classroom grades were unrelated to student's attitude toward homework but were predicted by how much homework the student completed (even after the use of homework in grading was controlled), by student ability, and by the amount of parent facilitation. More generally, parent facilitation was an important mediator of the relation between student norms, student ability, and parent attitudes toward homework, and the outcome of classroom grades.     

Project L.O.G.I.C.: Nurturing the mathematically gifted

A career education model for gifted secondary students proceeds from a broad awareness of the fifteen career clusters to specific career decision‐making by the individual student.     

The effectiveness of structured co-operative teaching and learning in Greek primary school classrooms

This study focuses upon the effectiveness of structured co-operative group work on primary school students, aged between 8.5 and 9.5 years old, regarding their content knowledge, attitudes towards co-operative group work, experiential learning and open-ended curriculum as well as students' social and learning behaviour during co-operative group work. A cross-curricular educational programme was implemented within the curriculum area of environmental studies entitled ‘traffic education'. The methodology applied in this study was the experimental and the case study research designs. The findings of the present study support the view that pupils can gain benefits through structured group work co-operation in obtaining content knowledge and group work skills, as well as in developing positive attitudes towards group work, experiential learning, open-ended curriculum and the co-operation with their peers with learning difficulties (LDs). Changes in the relationships with the peers were not affected after the implementation of the educational programme.     

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING FOR MIDLIFE ADULTS WITH PARENT‐CARING RESPONSIBILITIES

A major issue facing today's families is aging family members. Three factors compound this dilemma. First, the aging population is increasing both numerically and proportionally. Second, the middle generation, the traditional caretaking generation, is becoming older and fewer in number. Third, women are increasingly participating in the labor force. This research explored the use of adult education programming in addressing the needs of the midlife caretaking generation.

The nonrandom sample consisted of 50 midlife offspring residing in three central lower Michigan counties. As part of a one‐to‐one interview, respondents were asked to indicate preferences for content and mode of instruction for topics related to adult child/aging parent relationships. Thirteen of the most frequently mentioned areas of concern and need were selected from current gerontological literature. If participants desired further information in the content area, one of six methods of instruction also were selected.

The primary variable which distinguished those with high and low interest in information was age. The younger the age of the respondent, the more requests for information. Information related to the aging process was of greatest concern. Instructional methods that allowed personal interaction were selected for content areas of a personal nature. Conversely, independent methods were selected for informational material. Implications for educational gerontologists are explored.