Computational models are powerful tools--too powerful, according to some. We argue that the idea that models can "do anything" is wrong, and we describe how their failures have been informative. We present new work showing surprising diversity in the effects of feedback on children's task-switching, such that some children perseverate despite this…

This article reviews a particular computational modeling approach to the study of psychological development--that of constructive neural networks. This approach is applied to a variety of developmental domains and issues, including Piagetian tasks, shift learning, language acquisition, number comparison, habituation of visual attention, concept…

Examined Piaget's claim that young children have difficulties constructing common multiples because of an inability to abstract the number of actions performed to obtain a number of objects. Subjects were two groups of preschool children in sharing tasks. Results showed improvement in performance based on certain conditions, but the significance…

An analysis of the quantitative processes underlying conservation of quantity is presented. Models of three quantitative operators--subitizing, counting, and estimation--are derived from adult performance in quantification tasks, and some features of the operators are described. The emergence of conservation is described in terms of the…

A workshop on "Curriculum for Early Childhood Education," held in the summer of 1979 at the Kenya Institute of Education, aimed to familiarize participants with the problems facing early childhood education in Africa. Specific workshop objectives were (1) to familiarize participants with the psychological, social, political, and economic…