Students (n ϭ 797) from 36 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy for designing experiments. In the instruct condition, classes were taught in an interactive lecture format. In the manipulate condition, students worked in groups to design and run experiments to determine the effects of four variables. In the both condition, classes received the interactive lecture and also designed and ran experiments. We assessed students' understanding using a written test of their ability to distinguish valid from invalid experimental comparisons. Performance on this test improved from the pretest to the immediate posttest in all conditions, and gains were maintained at a 5-month delay. For students from both higher and lower achieving schools, gains ordered as follows: both Ͼ instruct Ͼ manipulate. However, students from higher achieving schools showed greater gains in all conditions. Item analyses showed that the interactive lecture improved students' understanding of the need to control irrelevant variables, and experimentation improved students' understanding of the need to vary the focal variable.

Two experiments investigated mock-juror perceptions of intimate stalking using Kentucky's (United States) anti-stalking legislation. Experiment 1 used a mock-juror methodology in which 177 undergraduates (87 men and 90 women) from a large southeastern US university read a stalking trial summary and rendered individual judgments as mock jurors. The main research question of Experiment 1 was how participant gender impacted trial judgments (e.g., verdict) when the gender of both the defendant and victim were manipulated. Overall, the results showed that men rendered significantly fewer guilty verdicts than women, particularly in conditions that included the prototypical type of intimate stalking (female victim/male defendant). In Experiment 2, also using a mock-juror methodology, 129 undergraduates (51 men and 78 women) from a large southeastern U.S. university read a stalking trial summary (involving a female victim and male defendant) and rendered individual judgments as mock jurors. The main research question of Experiment 2 focused on whether victim fear (high or low) impacted trial judgments (e.g., verdict). The results yielded an interaction of participant gender and victim fear. Specifically, whereas different levels of fear did not impact women, men yielded fewer guilty verdicts in the low victim fear condition compared to the high victim fear condition. The results of the present experiments are discussed in terms of the implications of stalking allegations brought to trial.

Students (n = 1,069) from 60 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy (CVS) for designing experiments. Half of the classrooms were in schools that performed well on a statemandated test of science achievement, and half were in schools that performed relatively poorly. Three teaching interventions were compared: an intervention that used examples of invalid designs to explain the logic of CVS (Invalid condition); an intervention that used examples of valid designs to explain CVS (Valid condition): and a control condition, in which no explicit instmction was provided until after an immediate posttest. The relative effectiveness of the teaching interventions depended jointly on school achievement level and the type of leaming assessment. For students from lower achieving schools, the Valid and Invalid condition were similarly effective and both were superior to the Control condition on an immediate posttest of near transfer. However, only the Invalid condition resulted in better performance than the Control condition on immediate and delayed posttests of intermediate and far transfer. For students from higher achieving schools, the Valid and Invalid conditions were equally effective on the near and intermediate transfer tests. However, on the far transfer test, the Invalid condition was superior to the Valid condition which, in turn, was superior to the Control condition. The pattem of superiority of the Invalid over the Valid condition is attributed to the emphasis in the Invalid condition on the rationale for controlling irrelevant variables.

This study investigated how the gender composition of mock juries affects deliberations and conviction rates in a child sexual assault (CSA) trial. As opposed to studies in which mock jurors make decisions as individuals, mock jury research allows for investigation of how individual decisions translate into group verdicts. Gender composition within mock juries was varied to examine whether well-established gender differences in individual judgments affect the jury-level decision-making process. Three hundred men and women, in 6-member mock juries, heard a fictional CSA trial. During deliberations, proprosecution/ prodefense statements by women were approximately equal, whereas men made more prodefense statements. Women switched votes during deliberations more than did men; jurors in woman majority mock juries changed from not guilty to guilty more often than did jurors in nonwoman majority juries, and vice versa; and woman majority mock juries convicted most often. Findings indicate that predeliberation gender differences led to unique jury deliberation strategies and voting patterns.

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