Based on the idea that mastery of reading is a complex problem to be solved by a child, the author discusses the learning-to-read process as a series of discoveries of solutions to subproblems, all of which are then ordered into a total system. As a child's attempted solutions approximate more closely the reality of each aspect of the reading…

In order to study the influence of the information-processing strategy of an adult model on the subsequent strategy of children, 216 grade school children solved modified twenty-questions problems. A repeated-measures factorial design was used with the following variables: (1) information-processing of model (hypothesis scanning, constraint…

After opening with a 13-page review of the literature, the document's main emphasis is on the three experiments included in this report. The specific rationale, procedures, and results of the three studies comprise the major portion of the document. The general purpose of Experiment 1 was to ascertain the effects of prior relevant subject matter…

In this book Piaget considers the way children learn about the world. He addresses such questions as the following: How does a child learn to perceive the world around him? How, for example, does he learn that by grasping an object, he can pull it towards him, or that a ball of clay, flattened, is no smaller than it was before? How does he learn…

This study investigates relationships between differences in students' achievement and differences obtained by a technique held to yield a reasonably valid representation of students' memory structures of a particular subject matter. Also investigated was the nature of the flow of information between curriculum materials, teachers, and students.…

The main purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of the planetarium in attaining the perceived goals of planetarium educators. The goal areas for the 986 second-grade children involved in the study were low level Cognitive or Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application; Affective or Receiving, Responding, and Valuing; and…

Digraphs, graphs, and task analysis were used to map out the content structure of a programed text (SMSG) in elementary probability. Mathematical structure was defined as the relationship between concepts within a set of abstract systems. The word association technique was used to measure the existing relations (cognitive structure) in S's memory…

Four hundred students, ranging from 5 to 15 years of age, were administered a series of tests of concept learning and development as a test of the Conceptual Learning and Development (CLD) model. Various levels of attainment of the concept of "equilateral triangle" were measured. The CLD model predicts that a decreasing number of students at a…

This study investigates developmental trends in free recall, with emphasis on rehearsal processes. An overt rehearsal technique was used in which 28 children in grades 3, 6, and 8 were instructed to rehearse out loud while trying to memorize a list of unrelated nouns. Control groups at each age level received standard free recall instructions,…

To investigate two measures which have been used to assess children's attention to stimulus dimensions, component selection, and dimension preference, both measures were administered to 38 3 1/2 to 5-year-olds and 20 5- to 6 1/2-year-olds. Seven to ten days after the dimension preference task was given. the component selection measure was…

Recent research has shown that certain stimuli are better remembered 6 months after initial exposure than after one week. An alternative explanation of these findings was tested. The explanation posited that the younger children "remember" as well at one week as 6 months later, but at the earlier testing many do not realize what aspect…

The major concerns of this paper are the varying ways of approaching, diagnosing and solving the problems besetting education as a result of the rapid technological and social changes which uniquely characterize our own day. Three chapters address various aspects of thinking and of education. The first proposes a definition of the educational…

In this study, two rival accounts of the mental operations used to solve Piaget's three-mountain perspective task are tested. One hypothesis is that if children use some form of mental rotation through anticipatory imagery, scores should improve as the angle of separation between the child and the other viewer is decreased. A second hypothesis is…

Reasons are provided that show the goal-directed study of subject material through the problem-solving approach which results in sounder learning. (Author/ND)