Mean ratings for the 487 words, rated on eight semantic differential rating scales and factor scores for fifth-grade children are included, together with emotionality, imagery, and concreteness ratings by college subjects. (Author)

Reports on a study that examined the effects of decentration training upon second-grade children's responses to reading instruction. Concludes that those who learned to decentrate did better on postinstruction comprehension tests than those who did not learn the technique. (FL)

Investigates effects of an independent variable (grade) on three dependent variables (membership, partial association, and generalization) describing preferential styles of thinking in 1635 pupils, measured by a 16 concept word test. (DS)

This study designed to use Piagetian logical operations and open-ended, clinical interviews to collect data amenable to a developmental analysis of children's levels of understanding of specific science topics: gravity, energy, and magnetism. Results indicated a correspondence between a child's overall cognitive development and the specific…

Working with students grouped by three conceptual levels offers one way of looking at students and recognizing what can be done to provide them with a stimulating environment for learning. (RL)

This study considers two problems related to cognitive development: "Is development hierarchical?" and "If so, what are the mechanisms involved in the process of development?" Analysis of the results of an experiment lead to differentiation of stages of development, and problem-solving strategies at each level are discussed.…

Children's learning of consumer economics concepts in two types of preschool teaching conditions was compared. Children in the Ausubelian program (high proportion of teacher-directed learning activities) achieved a significantly higher level of performance than did children in the Piagetian program (high proportion of child-directed activities.)…

It was found, among other things, that Ss with cardiac disease responded at lower levels of development on attainment of conservation tasks than did normal controls, and that cardiac Ss appeared to feel somewhat more vulnerable to illness in general, especially when projecting to adult health status. (DLS)

It is argued that a young child's perceptual skills form the basis for all future conceptual and mathematical learning. An experiment supports the argument. (MP)

Four studies tested the hypothesis that collection structures are easier than classes in numerical reasoning tasks. With perceptual input constant, the collection labels in contrast to the class labels promoted children's insight into certain numerical principles and facilitated the use of these principles in a variety of numerical tasks.…

Discusses misconceptions about constructivism by identifying related myths such as students should always be actively and reflectively constructing, manipulatives make learners active, and cooperative learning is constructivist. One central goal of constructivism should be that students become autonomous and self-motivated in their learning.…