A study to investigate the development of children's ability to relate concepts and thus understand metaphors by examining their performance on three concept-relating tasks is reported. Abstract-metaphoric, concrete-metaphoric, and literal taxonomic relationships were embedded in an analogy-like binary choice task. In this type of task, the…

Concepts important to cognitive development in children can be classified according to several levels. At level 1, concepts are equivalent in structural complexity to binary relations and univariate functions. At level 2, concepts are equivalent to compositions of binary relations, binary operations, and bivariate functions. At level 3, concepts…

Recent surveys have shown that pupils find the topics of esterification and condensation difficult. Reasons for the difficulty are not clear. Described is research designed to determine where the difficulties were visual or conceptual in origin. (RH)

The development of the ability to associate numerals with sets of appropriate size was studied in children, ages 4 to 5-1/2. (ST)

Investigates socioeconomic influences on conceptual development (classificatory behaviors) of third and sixth grades. (DP)

A broad literature review revealed that younger children are more likely to categorize objects along complimentary dimensions than older children who tend to categorize according to similarity. This developmental change is discussed in terms of etiology--internal organismic changes or environmental changes. (DP)

Three key predictions of Piaget's groupement model of middle childhood cognition were examined in the speed and time concept areas with a total of 93 children in grades 1, 2, and 3. (ED)

Based on author's PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles (1967).

Study supported by grant number 00870-05 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

To investigate the development of children's knowledge of the intension and extension of four natural concepts (cup, scissors, money, and musical instrument), three questions were explored in an experiment involving one-hundred-and-twenty 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old children (40 children for each age group). Extension was measured in a verbal labeling…

In the Soviet theory of cognitive development, originated by Vygotsky and elaborated by Leont'ev, acts occur at three levels of abstraction: activities, actions, and operations. According to this theory, an activity has an associated motive and may function directively as a motive. While many activities are possible, one activity tends to…

The study investigated whether training in object permanence and/or means-end followed by a language training program will result in the learning of more language (as measured by number of words and syntactic complexity) than the language training program alone with 32 profoundly retarded children (3 to 10 years old). Secondary goals included…

THE NATURE OF COMPREHENSION IS DEFINED AND CLARIFIED. THE LITERATURE IS SURVEYED TO SHOW THAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS IS IMPORTANT IN INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES. IT IS POINTED OUT THAT CONCEPTS ARE BUILT FROM PERCEPTS, IMAGES, SENSATION, AND MEMORIES, AND THAT THE STEPS WHICH ARE EMPLOYED AS CONCEPTS ARE BUILT AND REFINED AND INCLUDE PERCEIVING,…

This study examined children's development of the concept of the reciprocal relationship of question and answer by asking subjects to form questions to fit given answers and to form answers for given questions. A total of 72 children (18 per grades 1, 4, 7, and 10) participated in the study. Each child was tested individually on two tasks (the…

Young children were studied in tasks that required them to select one object as "different" from another. Children systematically selected maximally similar objects until about 3 years of age, and thereafter performed correctly. Additional data derived from the children's verbal justifications and refusals to select suggested a 4-stage model in…