Reviews the development of spatial organization in children with blindness. Discusses the importance of motor exploration, tactual development, and spatial representation as critical factors in developing spatial and cognitive organizations of their surroundings. Suggests seven specific activities to improve spatial organization in blind children.…

Four studies examined whether 16-month-olds' responses to true/false utterances interacted with their knowledge of human agents. Findings suggested that infants are developing a critical conception of human speakers as truthful communicators and that infants understand that human speakers may provide uniquely useful information when a word fails…

Examined geographical representations among children and young adults. Found that a distinct home region was apparent at age 9. At age 11, children divided North America into regions the same as university students. Children used new location information to update location estimates. Children preserved ordinal structure of initial location…

Describes an approach to teaching complex models in science that uses a model construction cycle of generation, evaluation, and modification. Reports on a case study of a student in a tutoring experiment in the study of electric circuits. Focuses on the role of analogies, discrepant events, and the student's moments of surprise as motivators of…

Reviews research on the appropriateness of computer use with young children. Discusses the effects computer use on children's lives, interaction, social and emotional development, learning and thinking in mathematics, and the implications for teachers. (KHR)

The article suggests that Belcastro rods, which retain the basic properties of Cuisenaire rods but allow instant identification by touch, may be useful in teaching mathematical concepts to blind children. Drawings illustrate use of the rods in teaching such concepts as addition and subtraction. (Author/DB)

Ten language impaired and 10 language normal children, aged 3-5), were asked to solve verbal and nonverbal problems requiring color and size judgments. There were no group differences on the verbal tasks, but the language impaired children performed less well on the nonverbal tasks especially on problems dealing with size. (Author/DB)

Studied the ways in which 200 children aged 2-6 years understood the concept of love. Results from interviews suggest that the youngest children think that they love different people at different times or under different conditions. Other results are discussed. (RJC)

Discusses the role of instructional design in the development of learning theory. Topics discussed include the acquisition of knowledge and skills; models of teaching; the teaching and acquisition of concepts; influences on retention; and the integration of procedures, principles, and concepts for solving problems. (20 references) (LRW)

Describes a method of teaching the order of mathematical operations based upon the psychological theory of conceptual generalization. (MDH)

Notes that sorting is an early classification activity; as language develops, objects can be sorted by various attributes and described. Describes key experiences in this developmental sequence, and provides guidelines and specific suggestions for selecting for classroom use "attribute materials" designed to lead students to both…

Examined the nature of sociocognitive growth in 66 kindergarten and first-grade children by having pairs of children work together to solve spatial perspective-taking problems. Found that the entering performance composition of the dyads did not affect cognitive growth, whereas the construction of shared cognitive experiences in which children…

This study compared the regulation of cognitive activity in 30 children (ages 15 to 95 months) with autism or mental retardation matched for global, verbal, and nonverbal developmental ages. Testing on tasks of object permanence indicated that the autistic children had a pervasive difficulty in maintenance set, made more perseverative errors, and…

Concepts used by two classes of grade eight students, one advanced and the other average, to explain the changes that occur when water is heated to boiling are presented. Little difference was found between groups in terms of the personal misconceptions used to explain boiling. The changes that take place in conceptual knowledge immediately after…

Examined are first-year medical students' (n=160) explanations of complex concepts in cardiopulmonary physiology following a lecture series. The results revealed systematic misconceptions by the students in developing a pathophysiological model of the problem. The implications for science instruction within a medical curriculum are discussed.…