Evidence for suggested basic differences in the abstract reasoning capacity of Negro and Caucasian children includes consistent findings of significantly poorer performance by Negroes on Raven's Progressive Matrices (PM). This study investigated the PM performance of Negro children taught algebra via a discovery method of instruction. It was administered to 16 5th-6th grade experimental students and 19 5th and 6th grade control students. Mean score for the experimental students was 36.2. A t-test of the difference in mean scores for the 2 groups was significant, suggesting that, given encouragement and training in complex problem solving, Negro children can develop the same abstract reasoning skills measured by the PM as Caucasian children. (Author)