Growing out of a child's cognitive developmental history, formal operation becomes established at about the age of 12-15 years. The essence of the logic of cultured adults and the basis for elementary scientific thought are thereby provided. The rate at which a child progresses through the developmental succession may vary, especially from one…

Responds to Noam's (PS 524 984) and Cicchetti's (PS 524 985) articles in this issue. Suggests that researchers should turn to the coactions of the internal and the external constraints on development that codetermine performance. States the position that cognitive developmental theory, when sensitized to intra- and interindividual differences,…

Service learning is one of the most pervasive education innovations of the past generation and has demonstrated much success in connecting schooling with community service. Service learning is designed to be integrated into, and enhance, the academic curriculum. It is believed, and there is growing evidence to show, that participation in service…

When Piaget ascribed the origin of knowledge to action, he distanced his theory from most other theories of the origins of mind. As a result, Piaget's conception of mental action has been quite controversial. Piaget's recent, functionalist revisions emphasize procedures and their role in the development of structures. In the new view, structures…

Develops a synthesis of stage thinking in the light of cognitive-developmental theory as it appears in the literature of both psychology and philosophy. (Author)

Concepts from the logic of modalities are applied to the life cycle to elaborate a new theory of adult and late-life development. Four logical modalities are described, each cognitively and emotionally governing discrete periods of life. It is hypothesized that optimal development in adult life includes explicit awareness of these modalities. (RH)

The article discusses aspects of the definition of "learning disabilities". The process of learning is discussed including such themes as social interaction, personal reflection and response, integration, transformation/growth, and ecological wholeness, balance, and fit. Encouraged is a nonproblematic definition of learning disabilities. (DB)

Developmental contextualism focuses on changes in fused relations between developing people and their changing contexts. Research on cognitive training in the aged years provides evidence about plasticity throughout life because it alters developmental trajectories through revised person-context relations. The studies in the current issue support…

The 2004 Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) standards were revised to include Human Growth and Development (HGD) as a knowledge domain. The HGD domain introduces a significant amount of new content to the curriculum, including several topics that have not traditionally appeared in the rehabilitation counselor educational curriculum. Thus,…

While research indicates that humans tend potentially to develop towards wisdom in later years, a review of mainly participant-determined groups and courses in 338 lifelong learning centers for older people shows little interest in wisdom or personal development activities. With the suggestion that this apparent lack of interest may be partially…

In his work as a family therapist and researcher with children and families in educational and community settings, the author encounters children who are anxious, depressed, lacking in empathy, self-esteem and motivation, and naive in their expectations about their physical and mental abilities. They haven't been properly challenged. These kids…

Argues that linguistic communication allows the incorporation of individual, microsociological, and macrosociological levels of analysis into a general theory of action. (RH)

Results of this study indicated that attitude conditioning increased with age and that the increase appeared to be a function of contingency awareness and perhaps also a function of the older subjects' having greater facility in transferring symbolic meaning. (Author)

Reviews Thelen and Smith's book and its account of "how knowing develops from doing." Concentrates on the nature of dynamic systems. (DR)