Abstracts - Earli

(Dweck, 1999). Results provided support for the hypotheses. Acceptance of mistakes and fear offailure were significantly correlated with each other in both samples. Japanese undergraduatesshowed significantly lower scores of acceptance of mistakes and higher fear of failure scores thanAmerican undergraduates. However, incremental theory was not significantly related withacceptance of mistakes in both samples, and positively related with fear of failure for Americansample. Optimal ways of the intervention for the mitigation of fear of failure in each of twocultures are discussed.P 901 September 2007 11:00 - 12:20Room: 1.71 PóczaPaper SessionSocial aspects of learningChair:Richard Walker, University of Sydney, AustraliaExploring the links between analogy use in conversation and children’s conceptions of scienceJill Hohenstein, King’s College London, United KingdomMaureen Callanan, University of California, Santa Cruz, USAAnalogies (comparing familiar material to novel material for purposes of demonstrating ideas)have been shown to be useful tools for understanding new concepts. In particular, analogies thatare relational as opposed to superficial appear to be most beneficial to learning. However, researchdemonstrates that it is difficult for people to adopt analogies to solve problems without someinstruction. Recently research has begun to address how people use different kinds of analogies invarious informal settings. This paper aims to examine children’s conceptions of science and familyuses of analogy in order to complement studies of the relations between how families converse inmuseum settings and children’s conceptions of science. In a marine science centre, 25 families (25children) participated in videotaped interactions at different exhibits followed by child interviews.Using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, results suggest that families who make use ofanalogy in discussing concepts encountered in the museum include children who think complexlyabout science. Further, these same families engaged in many open-ended questions, comparedwith closed-ended questions. Thus, we conclude that parents incorporate a variety of different‘high-level’ conversation techniques, which supports children’s thinking of science in complexrather than simple terms.Predicting elementary students’ adjustment at school: The case of social achievement goalsAthanasios Mouratidis, University of Leuven, BelgiumChristos Giouzelis, University of Crete, GreeceStefanos Kotrotsios, University of Crete, GreeceThis study aimed to investigate the relation between social achievement goals (Ryan & Shim,2006) and social related behavior as predictors of peer acceptance, and perceptions ofbelongingness and loneliness at school in a sample of elementary school students. Two hundredforty-two (118 boys and 124 girls), fifth and sixth-grade students participated in this study.Students were asked to indicate their achievement goal orientation into the social domain, their– 839 –