Page 4/The Battalion/Wednesday, Movember 4,1987 1987AGGIE BLOOD DRIVE November 2,3,4 & 5 Commons-10 a.m. to 8 p.m MSC—10 a.m. to 6 p.m. SBISA—10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Zachry—10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also on Nov. 6 at MSC —10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “Sponsored by The Aggie Blooddrive Club” Another service of Student Government, APO, OPA. THE BLOOD CENTER at Wadley Illustration by Kyle E. Jones S s s s s s < s si s si HEY AGS! TEAM UP & PULL FOR THE LADY AGGIES! The Texas A&M Women's Athletic Depart-k s ment and Intramural Sports Department are^ ^ sponsoring a TUG-OF-WAR competition to beh ^held at half-time of each home Lady Aggie bas- s ^ketball game. ^ s ^ ^team divisions: Men's & Women's Independent, s ^ Men’s and women's dorm, Corp, ^ s| Fraternity and Faculty/Staff. ^ si si ^ REGISTRATION TAKEN AT THE INTRAMURAL OFFICE si entries OPEN: Monday, November 2 ^ ENTRIES CLOSE: Tuesday, November 10 S s ^★Competing teams will be admitted free to^ ^designated basketball games. ^Overall winners of each division will receive ^championship T-shirt! si s; si s COME OUT AND PULL FOR THE LADY AGGIES! \^Z22 Whitmire runs for fourth term in mayor’s race HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire looked for voters to give her a fourth two-year term Tuesday in a low-key contest that pitted her against six politically unknown challengers. Those trying to unseat the mayor included teacher and consultant Richard “Dick” Dimond, retired minister “Shelby” B. Oringderff, businessman Bill Anderson, refinery operator Mary J. Pritchard, self-em ployed manufacturer Glenn Edward Arnett Jr. and printer Don W. Geil. About the only suspense remain ing was the size of the anticipated Whitmire victory margin, political analysts said. One poll speculated she could take up to 95 percent of the vote. A runoff would be required if the leading vote-better did not receive a simple majority but analysts consid ered that a remote possibility. Poll results released last weekend showed Whitmire, a widow, drawing favorable or very favorable ratings from 70.5 percent of voters. The positive sentiment was higher than two years ago when she de feated by a 3-2 margin Louie Welch, who held the top city job for 10 years until retiring in 1974. Whitmire and Welch each raised $1.4 million in a highly publicized contest spiced by a Welch remark on live television that one way to halt the spread of the disease AIDS would be to “shoot the queers.” Whitmire, who used the office of city comptroller as a stepping stone to the mayor’s job in 1981, cam paigned on a platform of seeking greater diversity in Houston’s de pressed oil-driven economy. “We’ve been dealing with our eco nomic problems most of the years that I have been in politics,” Whit mire said. “I think at this point we are beginning to see some im provements.” Key: = Lightning EE = F °9 • - Thunderstorms • § = Rain ** = Snow » Drizzle = Ice Pellets • ^ - Rain Shower rs\j - Freezing Rain Sunset Today: 5:34 p.m. Sunrise Thursday: 6:42 a m. Map Discussion: Low pressure is moving northeast through the Great Lakes producing scattered showers. High pressure and mild weather dominate the central plains and Rocky Mountains. Low pressure over Florida associated with a tropical depression continues to produce thunderstorms and gusty winds. A weak low near southern California and an associated upper tropospheric low pressure area is causing scattered rain, thunderstorms and mountain snow from San Diego to Lake Tahoe. Forecast: Today. Mostly sunny with scattered cumulous clouds. Winds will be light and variable with a high temperature in the low to mid-80s. Tonight Mostly clear and cooler with winds becoming northerly at 8 to 15 mph. Thursday Clear, cooler and breezy with 15 to 20 mph winds from the north and northeast and a high temperature in the mid-70s. Weather Fact Troposphere — the fraction of the Earth’s atmosphere from the surface to about 10 kilometers. The troposphere usually is associated with the part of the atmosphere containing nearly all clouds and is responsible for daily weather changes. Prepared by: Charlie Brenton Staff Meteorologist A&M Department of Meteorology A&M psychologist studies children’s learning process By Larissa-Starr Smith Reporter A Texas A&:M psychologist is per forming research on local preschool ers to learn more about how chil dren learn to label common objects and put those objects in different categories. “I want to find out everything I can about the natural learning proc ess and how children learn about categories,” Thomas Ward, an A&M assistant professor, says. Ward says parents often will label objects for their children like “look at the doggie.” The parent is point ing out an object and using a partic ular label. “I’ve been interested in what chil dren get out of those experiences,” Ward says. “What is the child’s idea of a dog after that kind of an epi sode? Is it four legs, fur, a tail or an overall appearence?” Children understand labels are at tached to objects and they also un derstand the same label refers to cat egories of things, Ward says. “If I say ‘that’s a dog,’ I’m pretty sure the child will understand that the dog is a specific instance of a big ger category,” he says. “I’m interested in finding out what defines the cat egory for the child and what the child encodes. ” — Thomas Ward, A&M psychology researcher “I’m interested in finding out what defines the category for the child and what the child encodes,” he says. “I want to know the prin ciples by which children learn these different categories.” Ward uses as an example a child who called everything with wheels a car. The object could have been rol ler skates, a truck or a skateboard, but to that child they were all a car. Ward concludes the child saw a car and noticed the wheels. “Is that a general principle?” he asks. “Is that the basic way children learn about categories? Do they fo cus on a single attribute or on overall appearance?” Ward investigates how children separate things into categories a tries to find answers to his questii by using imaginary creatures. I uses words that are not in the chi vocabulary as well as objects and bels the child doesn’t know and l not experienced. He shows the child a picture of imaginary creature and then a [ ture of another with varied pn erties, like a different body sha and size. “We find 4- and 5-year-old d dren tend to focus on a single attr ute but not always the same attribi with every child,” he says. “They seem to pay attention one thing rather than the numl and type of legs,” he says. Ward says children between l ages of 2 and 6 learn about ninem words everyday. This behavior concentrating on a single attribi may help the researchers see hi children learn so well, he says. “The tendency to pay attention a single attribute may facilitate! child’s learning, but it also may If to errors where the child overgel ralizes by putting objects in a c egory that they do not belong (in Ward says. SUNDAY, NOV. 8 Texas Race of Champions THE TEXAS CARS (Late Model Stock Cars) Four Races Over 100 Exotic Race Cars SUPER STOCKS GEORGE PHARIS CHEVROLET/BUICK SHOWROOM CARS BUD WARD VW TIDA PRO CARS Saturday, Nov. 7 MmM INTERPLANETARY •GXQSVfQrtCI CHILI & BAR B-Q SPGGuWQ 1 Hwy. 6 South (P.O. Box AJ) College Station, TX 77840 (409) 690-2500 CHAMPIONSHIP Practice and Qualifying