A Kantian Take on the Supererogatory

This article presents a Kantian alternative to the mainstream approach in ethics concerning the phenomena that are widely thought to require a category of the supererogatory. My view is that the phenomena do not require this category of (Kantian style) imperfect duties. Elsewhere I have written on Kant on this topic; here I shift my focus away from interpretive issues and consider the pros and cons of the Kantian approach. What background assumptions would lean one to favour the Kantian approach and what sorts would lean one to favour the mainstream approach? I also consider the possibility that in institutional contexts, there is a need for the category of the supererogatory. Here, it seems, we do need to know what we really have to do and what is beyond the call of duty; in this context, however, duty is not the Kantian moral notion, but rather is pegged to particular roles, or to the needs of the institution or group or club of which one is a member. But even here, I argue, the notion of the supererogatory is not crucial.     

Fostering equitable consequences from computer learning environments

This article discusses (a) the potential advantages of learning computer programming, (b) the performance of males and females in middle school programming courses, (c) the problems teachers face in achieving this potential, and (d) the participation of males and females in programming courses. Females comprise about 40% of the students enrolled in middle school programming courses. They perform, on the average, as well as or better than the males, and comprise 60% of the most talented students. Significantly, neither males nor females make very much progress in learning to program and, therefore, in acquiring any of the general cognitive skills which might potentially result from programming courses.This material is based upon research supported by the National Institute of Education, Grant No. 400-83-0017. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Education. Special thanks are due to John Dalbey, Charles Fisher, Ellen Mandinach, Joanne Stein, and other members of the ACCCEL staff for helpful discussions of these issues.     

A follow-up study of cross-cultural validity of Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration

A follow-up study with a younger group of mildly handicapped Japanese students was conducted to determine if the correlations between the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration and reading and mathematics achievement would substantiate the previous findings. For 30 mildly handicapped 11- and 12-yr.-old Japanese students, visual-motor integration scores were significantly correlated with both mathematics and reading scores. These results, added to the 1984 Webb and Abe data, further support the test's cross-cultural validity.     

Certifying Juveniles for Adult Court: An Attribution Analysis1

Certification is the process whereby older juveniles who have committed felony offenses are transferred from juvenile courts to adult courts. The present study examined the variables that influence decisions in these cases and used attribution theory to conceptualize the process. Data were obtained from files of 150 youths on whom certification petitions had been filed from January 1981 to October 1984. Of these, 125 had been certified and 25 had not. The sample comprised 148 males and 2 females. Data included seriousness of the offense, previous offenses, potential for aggressiveness, level of involvement in the offense, age, court in which the case was heard, year in which the case was heard, IQ, family income and sex. Level of involvement, seriousness of the offense and potential for aggressiveness had the strongest association with certification outcomes, with those high on these measures significantly more likely to be certified. The cluster that predicted outcomes best included level of involvement, seriousness of the offense, potential for aggressiveness, IQ, year in which the case was heard, court in which the case was heard, sex and previous offenses. The most explicitly behavioral variable—how actively the child participated in the offense—was the best single predictor of outcomes.     

Perceptual and conceptual variants of the oddity task as a predictor of learning disability

This paper compares LD and non-LD peers on eight variants of the oddity task. This study is part of a larger programmatic research effort aimed at the development of a screening test to detect preschool children who currently pass existing screening tests but, nonetheless, subsequently experience school failure. The theoretical orientation of this approach is to assess active, ongoing cognitive processing ability. The oddity task, which can be structured to assess such processing ability, was evaluated in the present study as a potential component of this screening test. Consistent with a priori predictions, the data resulted in strong group and developmental differences. Oddity performance increased over age, with the non-LD children performing consistently better than their LD peers at each age. Perceptual and conceptual factors were manipulated across the oddity variations, and both factors contributed to group differences. These results were discussed in relationship to early diagnosis and prognosis for learning disabilities that might result from deficiencies in abstract processing ability.The authors would like to express their thanks to the schools, teachers, and students who participated in this study. This research was supported in part by the Mailman Foundation and FDLRS/MAILMAN, a specialized university center of the Florida Diagnostic Learning Resources System, funded through State General Revenue appropriation to provide multidisciplinary evaluation services in exceptional student education programs.