Generic sentences (such as "Birds lay eggs") are important in that they refer to kinds (e.g., birds as a group) rather than individuals (e.g., the birds in the henhouse). The present set of studies examined aspects of how generic nouns are understood by English speakers. Adults and children (4- and 5-year-olds) were presented with scenarios about…

This study reports the preliminary results from a field test of the College-readiness Performance Assessment System (C-PAS), a large-scale, 6th-12th grade criterion-referenced assessment system that utilizes classroom-embedded performance tasks to measure student progress toward the development of key cognitive skills associated with success in…

Using a sample of resident fathers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (9-month Father Study), this study examined how father involvement is associated with infant cognitive outcomes in two domains (babbling and exploring objects with a purpose). Results from a series of logistic regression models indicate that varied aspects of…

The internal use of language during problem solving is considered to play a key role in executive functioning. This role provides a means for self-reflection and self-questioning during the formation of rules and plans and a capacity to control and monitor behavior during problem-solving activity. Given that increasingly sophisticated language is…

This article describes a detailed analysis of knowledge building in a problem-based learning group. Knowledge building involves increasing the collective knowledge of a group through social discourse. For knowledge building to occur in the classroom, the teacher needs to create opportunities for constructive discourse in order to support student…

Forty-four 7- and 8-year-old boys were classified as having high or low concrete reasoning ability or as being in a transitional state. Findings indicated that frustrated boys exhibit regression more than nonfrustrated boys and that the extent to which they regress is dependent upon cognitive level. (GO)

Tests of cognitive style and questionnaires on socialization practices and Mexican-American family values were administered to children and their mothers in three Mexican-American communities in southern California. Subjects from the "traditional" community which was most identified with the sociocultural premises of Mexican culture were…

The author, an astronaut who has visited the moon, focused on the nature of consciousness and the relationship of mind to body that underlies human potential. (Author/RK)

Several epistemic formulations have been advanced to explain cognitive development. Many writers have divided the field of psychology into three basic underlying models: the mechanistic, organismic, and dialectic models. An examination of epistemic positions reveals five broadly defined positions on how behavior develops within a given organism.…

This document contains papers presented at a symposium which was an outgrowth of the research project examining the cognitive deficits in mentally retarded persons. The studies which are discussed were designed to demonstrate that basic cognitive tasks are capable of predicting performance on standard measures of intelligence. The subjects of the…

Somewhat as Piaget proposed the existence of formal operations acting on concrete operational structures, Basseches (1978) has proposed the existence of dialectical operations acting on formal operational structures. Basseches gives a qualitative account of dialectical operations via the enumeration of 24 schemata categorized into four groups:…

This article discusses cognitive development as a primary educational objective and focuses on three cognitive processes: the prepared mind, the attending mind, and the processing mind. (PD)

Evaluates the effects of a training procedure based on the organizational disequilibrium model of cognitive development. Subjects were children who displayed pretest structural profiles of varying levels of structural elaboration. (DP)

Interest has recently revived in the theory that the left and right hemispheres of the brain control distinguishable facets of cognitive behavior. Robert Samples has described the realm of the left hemisphere as that of rationality, logic, linear thinking, and separation of reality into its component parts. He sees the right hemisphere as the…

A teacher training program in blind education is described which is based on Piagetian concepts of cognitive development. It is explained that the teacher is trained to be more concerned with process than with content. Four competencies of a process-oriented teacher (including skill in administering Piagetian reasoning instruments) are outlined,…