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This study integrated three major areas in understanding children's and young adults' metamemory components, self-efficacy, implicit theories, and performance-predictions. These areas were examined in relation to a picture recall task which was performed children at three age levels. Further, empirically-based "start value" information regarding peers' performance was manipulated. Subjects were 45 5th-graders, 40 9th-graders, and 49 undergraduate college students. A few general conclusions were reached. First, those with stronger memory self-efficacy made higher predictions with greater confidence regarding initial memory task performance. However, self-efficacy was largely unrelated to memory task performance. Second, providing "start value" information affected initial predictions for performance on a memory task. However, subsequent predictions were more strongly related to performance on the previous trial than to the "start values" provided. Third, age was related to memory self-efficacy; younger children tended to have a stronger sense of self-efficacy than older students. Finally, a vast majority of those sampled believed that their memory abilities could change. In conclusion, a few suggestions for future research may be offered. However, questions remain regarding how knowledge utilization about performance occurs. Reasons for the lack of a relation between self-efficacy and performance should be investigated. Finally, researchers should attempt to understand children's implicit memory theories better. (Author/ABL)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert