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This study examines the effects of using a learning game "Equations," student teams, and the game-teams combination on classroom process variables in seventh grade math classes. Using the game created greater student peer tutoring, less perceived difficulty, and greater satisfaction with the class. Using student teams resulted in greater student peer tutoring, and greater perceived mutual concern and competitiveness in the classroom. The games-teams combination resulted in greater peer tutoring than either games or teams alone. The results are interpreted using a structural theory of games and of teams. (Author)

The effects of the combined use of a nonsimulation game and student teams in mathematics on student achievement were investigated. Ninety-six seventh grade students in two low- and two average-ability mathematics classes participated in the study. One low- and one average-ability class played the nonsimulation game Equations twice a week for nine weeks in addition to receiving traditional instruction. The remaining two classes received traditional instruction only. In the games classes, the Equations tournament was based upon team competition using four-member teams. Students were pretested and posttested with the computations subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test in mathematics and a divergent solutions test designed by the experimenters. Analysis showed that the experimental classes had significantly greater gains on both the computations subtest and the divergent solutions test. The low-ability experimental class obtained a posttest score on the divergent solution test that was almost double their pretest, while the low ability control class showed no gain. Learning rates were more similar in the two experimental classes than in the two control classes. (Author/DT)

Although many public schools are nominally desegregated, the interaction among students of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds is minimal. Desegregated schools need to restructure the classroom in order to create more positive and constructive relationships among students from varying backgrounds. The present study investigated the restructuring of seventh grade mathematics classes by means of student teams and instructional games. The study examined how this restructuring affected cross-race and cross-sex selection by students of their helpmates and friends. The subjects were 115 seventh grade students at a large urban junior high school; 43 percent of the students were blacks, and 47 percent were males. A two by two randomized design was used manipulating Task and Reward. Placing students on heterogeneous four-member student teams created significantly greater cross-race and cross-sex helping and friendship. Playing the instructional game had a marginal effect on cross-race helping only; however, the game-team combination increased considerably the incidence of cross-race and cross-sex interaction over that of games alone. (Author/JM)

A study was conducted to learn whether or not occupational perceptions become more specific or differentiated with age. The study was based on the hypothesis that older people should be able to discriminate more accurately among occupations than younger people as a result of their experience and development. The literature was searched for samples of elementary students, high school students, college students, and employed adults who had taken the Vocational Preference Inventory. Samples were selected to represent each of these levels. The findings supported the hypothesis in providing evidence that perceptions of occupations tend to become more differentiated, and thus more useful, as people get older. (WS)

This report investigates student evaluations of a business simulation game as a learning experience in terms of specific claims which have been made for this kind of teaching technique. Ninety-nine junior college students in introductory business courses answered a questionnaire after playing the fame as an ongoing, semester-long activity. The results support the claims that games are self-judging, increase student motivation, and increase students' understanding in areas related to the game, but not the claim that games have special value for low-achieving students. The students considered the fame experience most valuable for learning relationships and for getting a feel for the real situation. In general, the students' evaluation of the game as a learning experience was positively related to their understanding of the instructor's reasons for using the game. Also, acceptance of the game as self-judging was associated with low tolerance for ambiguity, and reported increases in business understanding were related to the students' course grades and their understanding of the game. (Author/AWW)

A sample of 358 men and 360 women took the Self-Directed Search (SDS), a vocational guidance tool developed by Holland based on his theory of vocational choice. Holland had found that in the occupational domain the factor loadings on the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional scales fit a hexagonal paradigm where adjacent types usually had similar loadings and distant types usually had divergent loadings. Data from this sample was subjected to factor and configural analysis in an attempt to verify the relationships among Holland's personality types, to clarify the characteristics of each type, and to extend the hexagonal model to new domains of assessment. The results of the analyses offer strong empirical support for the hexagonal arrangement of the personality types, and also support the organization of the SDS and Holland's occupational classification. (Author/DG)

This paper, a revision of the original document, "Correcting Partial, Multiple, and Canonical Correlations for Attenuation" (see TM 000 535), presents the formula for correcting coefficients of partial correlation for attenuation due to errors of measurement. In addition, the correction for attenuation formulas for multiple and cannonical correlations are discussed. The attenuating effects of measurement error are examined algebraically for a special case of partial correlation and multiple correlation. Finally, the formula for the corrected partial r is related to recent work on the measurement of change. (Author/AG)

This study examines the effect on learning of repeated plays of the simulation game "Trade and Develop" (T/D). It also examines the effects of students' ability, using a general measure (determined by school tracking procedures) and a specific measure (achievement test in the specific class). The results of the study indicate that, after playing the basic version of T/D twice, further playing of the basic game or the advanced game will not increase students' understanding of the mechanics of the game (perceptions), strategies of play, or analogies between the game model and the real situation. The effects of students' general ability on learning in the game were weaker for learning of strategies than for learning of perceptions of the game, or for understanding of the analogies between the game and real life. The learning of perceptions and of strategies was not related to the specific measure of achievement, but the correlation between learning of analogies and the achievement measure was significant. (Author)

Entering students at an unidentified community college had lower self-esteem and identified with lower-status occupations than their university counterparts. Two years later the differences in self-esteem had been eliminated, liberal arts students at the community college identified with higher-status occupations, and business and technical students at the community college identified more closely with occupations that corresponded to their chosen curricula. These relationships were especially clear when the 19 dependent variables were reduced to a 2-dimensional discriminant space. This report offers a complete and technical discussion of the data. (Author/CA)

This study probes the relative effects of 2-year and 4-year college environments on their students. Using a population of 305 male students who had resided and graduated from public schools in the same county, 195 were randomly selected for the study. These students--68 from a university and 46 liberal arts, 25 technical, and 56 business students from a nearby 2-year junior college--were given a variant (Bingham's Occupational Repertory Test) of the Modified Repertory Test, both at college entrance and 21 months later. Changes in self-esteem, level of incorporation of occupational concepts, and level of incorporation of social role concepts were noted. Statistical analysis of data suggests that: (1) preselection factors were operating in the students' initial program choice; (2) 2-year college students experienced a noticeable increase in self-esteem and identification with higher status occupations, making post-test differences in self-esteem between 4-year and 2-year college students insignificant; (3) the identification between 2-year college students enrolled in occupationally centered programs and their occupation was intensified; and (4) there was little change in the self-esteem or occupational identification of students completing their first two years of university experience. Based on these findings, the effects of the 2-year college environment are seen as particularly significant in developing occupational and self-concepts. (JO)