Describes a study that compared the effects of microworld microcomputer training and real world training on sorting behaviors of 2- and 3-year-olds. Discussion of the relationship between cognitive development and the ability to process microworld training focuses on different reactions between the two age groups. (42 references) (CLB)

A training experiment with 22 retarded children (IQs from 34 to 74) found that training on a general magnitude comparison rule for numbers 1-10 resulted in experimental subjects significantly outperforming control subjects on both immediate and delayed posttests with some evidence of transfer of training. (Author/DB)

Describes two experiments that examined children's understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion. Discusses the findings in relation to research concerning children's concept of mind, their grasp of the appearance-reality distinction; their ability to produce complex, embedded justifications; and their ideas about emotion.…

Presents descriptions of play reflecting recent theories, including the psychoanalytic works of Freud, Erikson, and Peller; Piaget's developmental theory (with discussion of Sutton-Smith); and the views of Smilansky and Parten. (AS)

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)

A social studies concept assessment instrument was developed and used to assess the concept development level of 24 kindergarten and 28 first grade subjects on n social concepts. Significant differences were found in scores for kindergarten and first grade; no significant differences were found in scores for race or sex. (Author/RM)

Effects of object training and photograph training on comprehension of category labels by 10 severely mentally retarded children and adolescents were explored. Results indicated that acquisition and transfer did not differ, yet generalization was significantly more accurate with objects than with photographs. Futhermore, generalization was…

This study attempts to investigate development of expertise in the area of economics. Results suggest that development of expertise in economics has a stage-like development similar to the domain of medicine. Studies in medicine show that expertise development is not simply a process of extending knowledge in existing semantic networks. The study…

This paper reports on a study that represents a new approach to understanding early and middle grade children's development of historical time awareness. The study sought to embed children's time awareness in a sociocultural framework, and to move beyond linguistic symbol systems to incorporate visual data sources. The researchers began with three…

Examines the importance of (1) dimensional characteristics of stimuli present in discrimination transfer tasks, (2) having contrasting stimuli presented simultaneously, and (3) subjects age. Subjects were rural Mexican youths, ages 4 to 10. Reversal and nonreversal type discrimination transfer problems were used in the study. (DP)

Major purpose of this experiment was to test a notion suggested by Gagne that operations, as described by Piaget, are more dependent on learning than on development. It was concluded that the results supported Gagne's cumulative learning model rather than the notion that operations are primarily dependent upon maturation. (Authors/CB)

The purpose of this paper is to review Professor Peters' notion of education as initiation' and to suggest that it involves a paradox of freedom for both teachers and pupils. (Author)

Implications of this study on child-development theory, education, and psychotherapy are discussed. (MB)

A review of recent curricular research presents studies in the areas of: (1) psychological and epistemological foundations; (2) new developments (content of instruction, cognitive processing, and methodological re-direction); and (3) exemplary research programs on teacher behavior, pupils' prior conceptions in learning, and probelm solving. (CJ)