The complex relationship between cognitive developmental research and children's science curricula is explored, focusing on the tendency to attribute shortcomings in performance to the child's age, the confounding of weak knowledge with developmentally based deficiency, and emphasis of stage-based constraints on children's thinking. (SLD)

Investigates whether the critical period for cognitive transition from concrete operations to formal operations at 12-14 years of age actually exists. Uses the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) intervention program in Malawi. Discusses the existence of the critical period, academic achievement, and explanations for age and…

Instructional implications of cognitive development theory are discussed, and it is proposed that the current theoretical framework offers a view of development that, applied in instructional contexts, leads to a reconceptualization of the traditional notion of developmental curricula. Piaget's theory offered a framework for how children should be…

Six papers presented at a conference on early childhood first and second language acquisition sponsored by the California state legislature's Child Development Programs Advisory Committee include: "Bilingual Development and the Education of Bilingual Children During Early Childhood" (Eugene E. Garcia); "An English-Only Preschool Program" (William…

A research project of environmental learning in children is discussed. Most of the studies conducted during the research involved observation of children aged 3-12, in mapping and free environmental behavior, and in curricular experiments using perceptual surrogates for map-learning and macro-environmental conceptualization in the lower elementary…