Explores age differences (6 to 22 years of age) in conceptions about the nature of the skills required by verbal and nonverbal (abstract) intelligence tests. (HOD)

Tested 32 4-year-olds and 32 6-year-olds for free and cued recall following either play-and-remember or sort-and-remember instructions and assessed them for their metamemory of the efficacy of conceptual and perceptual sorting strategies. Younger children recalled more items under sort-and-remember, whereas no recall differences were found for the…

Identified some of the misconceptions held by secondary science students (N=232) related to selected ecological concepts and generalizations. Lists the alternative conceptions expressed by these students on food chains and energy flows and pyramids. Offers perspectives on dealing with the sources of the misconceptions. (ML)

Reports findings of a study on children's perceptions and alternate conceptions about the human circulatory system. Summarizes the responses of fifth and eighth grade students on questions dealing with the heart and blood. Offers examples of hands-on activities and confrontation strategies that address common misconceptions on circulation. (ML)

Provides guidelines for conducting and interpreting interviews aimed at assessing the cognitive concepts of young children. Discusses the content, task, questions, and format of the interview, listing 16 points of advice for interviewers. Also elaborates on the value and use of structured interviews. (JM)

Investigated relationships and sequence of acquisition among seven gender concepts and extent to which cognitive maturity is related to them. Study of 60 preschool children found that gender concepts improve with age, are similar in both sexes, and are related to one another and to some aspects of cognitive maturity. (Author/ML)

Five reader and nonreader male students (ages 6 to 10) were tested using the procedures developed by J. Downing and P. Oliver to investigate the development of the concept of the word. Results indicate significant effects for reading levels, age, stimuli, and a significant interaction between reading level and stimulus class. (Author/PN)

An investigation of selected research projects which focus on intellectual development is presented. The treatment begins with a description of psychological-oriented studies and illustrates the many ways in which studying a second language in school settings contributes to the cognitive development of the learner. (Author/RM)

Cultural, ecological, and educational variables in relation to magical thinking, perceptual flexibility, and logical reasoning seem to be crucial in development of children's judgments and explanations in conservation tasks. (Author)

Moral competence is more difficult to attain than scientific competence. Since language comprehension plays a central role in conceptual development, and moral language is difficult to learn, there is a common deficiency in moral conceptual development. This suggests a theory of non-spontaneous solutions to moral problems. (Author/MS)

This paper presents some findings on students and authority in the mathematics classroom. It is shown that students create a web of authorities that extends not only to their teachers but also to their fellow students. While it is not asserted that relationships based on authority should be abolished, it is shown that such relationships can…

These analyses form part of a three-year project looking at mathematical thinking as a socially organized activity. We revisit data from a University Calculus class using tools from two theoretical perspectives, used increasingly in mathematics education research: (1) semiotic mediation; and (2) discursive practices. We highlight how different…

In this review, it is suggested that language influences the young child's thinking and behavior at an age earlier than commonly reported. Three areas are discussed: concept formation, communication, and problem solving. (CS)

Results indicate that within the limitations of this study there is evidence that children with superior" intelligence showed more mature response patterns on Piaget-type tasks than children of the same age with average" intelligence test scores. (Author)