Occupational choice and cognitive functioning: Career aspirations of highly intelligent and of highly creative adolescents.

"This investigation extends an earlier series of studies of two types of gifted adolescents, those exceptionally high in IQ but not in creativity and those exceptionally high in creativity but not in IQ, by comparing their career aspirations and their cognitive functioning. It was found that (a) the two groups differ significantly in both the quantity and quality of occupational goals… and (b) the two groups differ significantly in attitudes toward adult success and toward conformity to teacher preferences." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminating among educational majors and career aspirations in Taiwanese undergraduates: The contribution of personality and self-efficacy.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Big Five personality factors, measured by the NEO Personality Inventory Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and vocational confidence across Holland's hexagon, measured by the Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI; Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 2005), were useful in discriminating among educational majors and career aspirations for 312 Taiwanese university students. The Big Five and confidence, in combination, significantly differentiated among 4 college majors and 7 career aspirations in a Taiwanese university sample. Big Five Agreeableness and SCI Realistic, Investigative, and Conventional confidence emerged as most salient in the discrimination. Differences by sex, major, and career aspiration were mostly consistent with social cognitive career theory, Holland's theory, and prior U.S. research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of verbal memory in childhood and adolescence: Findings from the Munich Longitudinal Study.

The authors assessed developmental changes in verbal memory from the beginning of elementary school to late adolescence on the basis of data from the Munich Longitudinal Study. Major issues concern the stability of individual differences in strategy use as well as interrelationships among different components of verbal memory and the impact of educational context on verbal memory development. Long-term stability of strategic memory was low to moderate in late childhood and adolescence. Interrelations among the verbal memory components were also moderate and did not change much over time. Unexpectedly, no impact of educational context was found. Overall, individual differences in verbal memory performance develop very early in life and are relatively unaffected by differences in educational experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When is educational specialization heterogeneity related to creativity in research and development teams? Transformational leadership as a moderator.

The authors examined conditions under which teams' educational specialization heterogeneity was positively related to team creativity. Using a sample of 75 research and development teams, the authors theorized and found that transformational leadership and educational specialization heterogeneity interacted to affect team creativity in such a way that when transformational leadership was high, teams with greater educational specialization heterogeneity exhibited greater team creativity. In addition, teams' creative efficacy mediated this moderated relationship among educational specialization heterogeneity, transformational leadership, and team creativity. The authors discuss the implications of these results for research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changing the conversation between schools and families: New perspectives on educational reform.

Reviews the book, High-risk children in schools: Constructing sustaining relationships by Robert C. Pianta and Daniel J. Walsh (1996). In this gem of a book, Pianta and Walsh offer a fresh and stimulating perspective on children's schooling, the nature of risk, and the importance of the relationship between the child/family system and schools/schooling. Drawing heavily from developmental science, Pianta and Walsh assert that schools are critical contexts for development. They challenge psychologists and educators to harness developmental influences at school in the interest of promoting success for all children, especially children at highest risk for school failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapy and counselling with women: A handbook on educational materials.

Describes a new Handbook developed by Jean Pettifor, Carolyn Larsen and Lorna Cammaert of Calgary. The purpose of this Handbook on Educational Materials is to assist therapists, counsellors, teachers and consumers to promote sex-fair therapy and counselling with women. The Guidelines for Therapy and Counselling with Women, adopted by the Canadian Psychological Association in 1980, are consistent with the Canadian Psychological Association Ethical Standards of Psychologists (1978) and the Canadian Psychological Association Standards for Providers of Psychological Services (1977). The Handbook, as a sequel to the Guidelines, provides information on educational models and content and on workshops and "self-help" exercises which can be used to increase awareness of sex bias and stereotyping and to promote competent and fair practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reviews of Asian American education: Acculturation, literacy development, and learning: Volume 4. Research on the education of Asian and Pacific Americans and New perspectives on Asian American parents, students, and teacher recruitment: Volume 5. Research on the education of Asian and Pacific Americans.

Reviews the books, Asian American education: Acculturation, literacy development, and learning: Volume 4. Research on the education of Asian and Pacific Americans by C. Park, R. Endo, and X. L. Rong (2007) and New perspectives on Asian American parents, students, and teacher recruitment: Volume 5. Research on the education of Asian and Pacific Americans by C. Park, R. Endo, S. Lee, and X. L. Rong (2009). These two books challenge the still pervasive model minority myth that the school experiences of Asian American students are homogenous and result in one outcome—success. Asian American Education (AAE) and New Perspectives (NP) do an excellent job conveying the diversity and complexity (yes, there are of course successes, but also many challenges) of education-related issues for Asian Americans. The two books dispel the notion of a one-size-fits-all view of academic achievement in this population. One strength of the two books is that the chapters (nine in each book) cover quite a bit of ground and examine a wide range of topics. The chapters are inclusive in terms of methodology (the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches), age range of students (from elementary school to graduate school), type of student (ESL, special education, and mainstream), key players (focusing on students, parents, teachers, and school professionals), and ethnicity (pan- Asian American, Chinese, Korean, and less studied groups such as Vietnamese, Laotian, Hmong, and Burmese). Overall, the two books offer a comprehensive overview on a number of important topics—some that have been heavily researched and others breaking new ground. In summary, these two books will be useful to teachers, parents, administrators, and school professionals who want a detailed and culturally sensitive overview of important educational issues that Asian American students face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)