Behavior and interactions of children in cooperative groups in lower and middle elementary grades

The study investigated the behaviors and interactions of children in structured and unstructured groups as they worked together on a 6-week social studies activity each term for 3 school terms. Two hundred and twelve children in Grade 1 and 184 children in Grade 3 participated in the study. Stratified random assignment occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of 1 high-, 2 medium-, and 1 low-ability student. The results show that the children in the structured groups were consistently more cooperative and they provided more elaborated and nonelaborated help than did their peers in the unstructured groups. The children in the structured groups in Grade 3 obtained higher reading and learning outcome scores than their peers in the unstructured groups.

Maintenance of cooperative and helping behaviors in reconstituted groups

The authors conducted a 1-year investigation of whether children, who had been trained in the previous school gear to cooperate, were able to use the skills they had been taught in reconstituted groups without additional training. Sixty-four 4th graders, who had participated in training in cooperative group behaviors in the previous gear, were assigned to the trained condition; 84 4th graders, who had not received any training, were assigned to the untrained condition. The children worked in mixed-ability (high, medium, low) gender-balanced groups (2 boys, 2 girls). Results indicate that the children in the trained groups were consistently more cooperative and helpful than their peers in the untrained groups, although they had not received refresher training in cooperative group behaviors.

Goals and reputations amongst young children - The validation of the importance of goals and reputation enhancement scales

The aim of the present research was to provide school psychologists with valid instruments with which to assess the goals and reputations of young children. This was achieved by ascertaining whether the factor structures and the second-order factor models of the high school versions of the Importance of Goals (Carroll, et al., 1997) and Reputation Enhancement Scales (Carroll, et al., 1999) could be replicated with a primary school sample. Eight hundred and eighty-six 10 to 12 year old children were administered modified versions of the two scales, which were combined and renamed the Children's Activity Questionnaire. For the two scales, the factor structure proved replicable and reliable with the primary school sample. A comparison between the factor loadings of the primary school and the high school samples using the coefficient of congruence procedure demonstrated similarity indicating that the scales are replicable and able to be used with a younger primary school sample. Structural equation modelling indicated that the second-order factor structure of the Importance of Goals Scale was acceptable but this was not the case for the second-order factor structure of the Reputation Enhancement Scale.

Occupational aspirations of sixth-grade children

The present study examined the occupational aspirations of sixth-grade children in terms of occupational category, minimum education level and gender. In addition, the study identified the sources of occupational information used by the children and the factors they thought could influence them toward or away from a job. The study found that all of the children were able to express occupational aspirations. While the children obtained occupational information from a range of sources, including the media and family, the source most likely to influence them toward or away from choosing a job was family.