Presented is a theory of how competence with written mathematical symbols develops, tracing a succession of cognitive processes that cumulate to yield competence. Arguments supporting the theory are drawn from the history, philosophy, and psychology of mathematics. (MNS)

Argues that Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs) improve students' on-task compliance which, in turn, is consistently associated with achievement. Indicates a substantial relationship between BAT use and cognitive learning on both absolute and relative measures of achievement. Shows that the teachers perceived by students as "good"…

Investigated the relationship between developmental shifts in the organization of materials and developmental changes in deliberate strategy use. Subjects were second and fourth graders. (HOD)

Through examples of both a child's imagination and pretend play activities, demonstrates how a child's imagination is the thinking function that sets the stage for play, while actual play consists of a child's understanding and representation of reality. (HOD)

Reports on two studies during which 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children were interviewed about three different types of regularities or rules: social conventions, physical laws, and logical necessities. Shows that older children made more distinctions between social and nonsocial items than did younger children. (HOD)

Describes four experiments conducted among adults and 3- to 7-year-olds to validate a task analysis that indicates that the equality, group enhancement, and superiority social decisions require a greater information processing load than the altruism, rivalry, and individualism social decisions. (HOD)

Describes two experiments that examined the effects of quantity and depth of processing on elementary school children's time perception. (HOD)

Specific modes of formal reasoning and measurements of principled moral reasoning ability were obtained from 99 10th-grade students. Hierarchical relationships were found amoung variables with combinatorial and correlational reasoning accounting for 22 percent of the variance in principled moral reasoning. Theoretical and educational implications…

Cognitive activity of children from 1.5 to 5 years of age participating in problem solving and in spontaneous play was analyzed in terms of the successive coordination of existing patterns and the incorporation of new mental components. Analysis identified a series of developmental levels. (Author/RH)

By enhancing the cognitive abilities of teachers, supervision can help them make better instructional decisions in planning (the preactive stage), teaching (the interactive stage), analyzing and evaluating (the reflective stage), and applying (the projective stage). Seven charts and a 33-item reference list are provided. (DCS)

Educators can improve children's thinking skills through the following five steps: (1) identifying and defining the desirable thinking skills, (2) identifying the components of these skills, (3) providing systematic skills instruction, (4) integrating the teaching of thinking skills with various content areas, and (5) improving skills testing.…

The renewed interest in teaching thinking skills results from concern about the failings of the current system. Some thinking skills programs emphasize cognitive processes, while others are concerned with heuristics, development of formal operations, language and symbols, or thinking as subject matter. (TE)

Seymour Papert, creator of LOGO, explains how he came to create this important problem-solving language and how he intended it to be used to foster learning among children. What children can do with turtle geometry (indicated to be a natural approach to mathematics) is one topic considered. (Author/JN)

This paper attempts to show how Bruner's views regarding discriminate decision-making could be applied to efforts to plan and sequence learning activities in which secondary students examine and respond to works of art. (MB)

Kohlberg, inspired by Piaget's cognitive developmental approach to moral development, expands the structural cognitive approach through more systematic longitudinal, cross-cultural, social class, and educational research. (Author)