Cognitive development is driven by experience, but is mediated by domain general processes, which include learning, induction, and analogy. The concepts children understand, and the strategies they develop based on that understanding, depend on the complexity of the representation they can construct. Conceptual complexity can be defined in terms…

This study examined children's explanatory style for health- and safety-related events. Fifty children (ages 8 to 11) were interviewed using 12 health-related questions based on Seligman's Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE) method. Children and their mothers also completed a health status form, which included questions on the…

A major theoretical issue in the study of language processing and language acquisition is whether language development is independent of other aspects of cognitive development, encapsulated in a "language module." This issue is discussed as it relates to lexical processing. The paper begins with a historical contextualization of the modular view…

Deaf children's thought processes are analyzed in regard to J. Piaget's theory of cognitive development. (Author)

Examines experimental studies in which learning procedures such as reinforcement, direct instruction, and modeling are applied in an attempt to alter characteristics of children's information processing behaviors. Discusses whether the studies have demonstrated acquisition of generalized cognitive functions or merely elicitation of task specific…

Piaget's concept of "internalization" is analyzed and related to Bruner's representational theories of cognitive development. Cognitive structures are shown to be real exclusively in an actual representation. (Author/SDH)

Inquiry teaching forces students to actively engage in articulating theories and principles that are critical to understanding a domain. Inquiry teachers have three distinct goals: (1) to help students construct a given theory or set of principles; (2) to help students construct novel theories or principles; and (3) to teach students how to pose…

The "T-cubed: Teacher Teach Thinking" staff development model was developed by teachers, with their colleagues, for their own growth in teaching for effective thinking. The model builds on the cornerstones of the dignity of the teacher, the worth of the individual child, the importance of thorough integration of thinking skills in all subjects at…

Children may cognitively know that an object of fear is pretend, not real, but still feel fear and anxiety. A review of the development of reality from the psychological and cognitive perspectives shows that the growing child's interaction with mother, family, and environment helps the child gradually develop an understanding of reality. Teachers…

Eleven kindergarten children, nine of whom had been identified at risk, were administered tasks involving word and sentence reading with and without pictures, writing of words and a sentence, print awareness, and book handling skills. Results suggested that children expect words to be a label for pictures, that articles and prepositions are not…

In this paper, Piaget's theory is analyzed using Locke's philosophy. The first part, "Mental Experiences," describes the author's view (with a tentative interpretation of Piaget's position) of reflection, abstraction, re-presentation, and the use of symbols. The second part, "Piaget's Theory of Abstraction," has four sections:…

A multidimensional model of the growth of moral reasoning is described that is significantly different from those proposed by Kohlberg and Piaget. A study that tests several aspects of the model on university students is reported. The suggestion that well-developed chains of reasons are a prerequisite for the emergence of metaethical reasoning was…

Using a neo-Piagetian structural analysis, two studies examined developmental differences in the oral narratives of children aged four to ten years. The first experiment, reporting on 20 children at each of the dimensional substages (mean ages of 4.8, 6.1, 8.5, and 10.6 years), showed that a qualitative shift occurred between four and six years…

The teaching of critical thinking requires an understanding of the term, defined in this document as the processes of judgement or evaluation. Informal logic teaches students to understand and analyze arguments which are fallacious, to determine what is valid and invalid, and to evaluate non-deductive arguments. John McPeck and Richard Paul…

Discussed are results of studies of the cognitive development of 2- and 3-year-old children which suggest that the mind makes gains in the ability to think as gains in language development are made. "Thinking" in this context refers to the judgments children made as they selected objects and maneuvered them into one arrangement or…