A longitudinal study followed perceptual and problem solving skill development in children (2-11 years old) with severe problems of oral and written language acquisition: 15 hearing impaired (HI) Ss; 11 children with a hearing loss that alone did not account for their language problem, who presented in addition so-called "learning problems" (HIL…

Written for curriculum developers and vocational education instructors, this publication provides an understanding of cognitive concepts and methods using an information processing paradigm and shows how to apply this knowledge in development of curriculum and instructional plans. Chapter 1 reviews needs and characteristics of vocational education…

A basic problem of disadvantaged students is their inability to deal with information: to assist the teacher the Niagara Centre of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education has described a set of skills sequences that might be called Basic Thinking Skills. (JM)

A theoretical proposal is offered concerning individual differences in cognitive processes. The focus is on mental retardation and the comparative problem-solving performance of 'normal' and 'retarded' children. (Author/CS)

Abstracts of most of the papers presented at the 55th annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), held at the Abbey, Lake Geneva, WI, April 5-8, 1982 have been collected in this publication. Papers relate to such topics as teacher education: preservice and inservice, cognitive development, research…

Preschool children's problem solving processes are investigated in both direct and indirect ways. Direct investigations focus on substantive and methodological issues related to how children solve a few well defined puzzles, such as the Tower of Hanoi and the Tangram. Indirect investigations deal with related issues: U-shaped (or non-monotone)…

An information-processing task analysis of what kindergarten children might do if they are successful in representing and solving certain types of simple arithmetic story problems served to identify five key components. Data obtained from the interview testing of 66 kindergarten children served to suggest a major difference between successful and…

Two phenomena related to the quality of student responses in regard to items used in a testing situation are involved in the construction of a pupil response model. The underlying phenomenon which defines the individual's cognitive limits is termed the hypothetical cognitive structure (HCS). The second phenomenon, which is a function of not only…

Strategies used by 150 children as they solved addition and subtraction verbal problems were studied over a period of one-and-a-half years. Number size and presence of manipulative materials were variables manipulated in individual interviews given at three separate intervals. Two addition and four subtraction tasks were used. Processes changed…

A sequence of reasoning processes based on a combination of theories developed by Jean Piaget is presented. An applied theory of concept-teaching is derived from the restructuring of Piagetian theories on logical thought specifically concerned with the notions of the additive and multiplicative ordering of groups, and the four logic processes of…

Sensing a need for change in the dentistry curriculum, faculty members from the School of Dentistry of the University of Louisville met with educational and psychological consultants with the purpose of updating the present didactic and organizational program. A Discrepancy Analysis System (DAS), also called Cognitive Dissonance, was chosen to…

The concepts of cognitive development and objectivity are explored preparatory to a discussion of a suitable theory of development to be used as the foundation for developmentally-based standardized tests. It is hypothesized that Piagetian theory is the most appropriate basis for such tests and two possible approaches for constructing…

Piaget has hypothesized that concrete and formal operations can be described by specific logical models. The present study focused on assessing various aspects of four concrete operational groupings and two variations of two formal operational characteristics. Six hundred twenty-two 9-14 year old students participating in the Human Sciences…

This paper presents a study which indicates that accurate performance on a simple conservation task need not be related to congnitive maturity. Twenty adults and 20 third graders were given three verbal problems, each requiring a same-different judgment and an explanation of that judgment. Only 3 adults were able to give correct judgments, while…

Presented is an exploration of the behavior of 27 pre-service elementary school teachers in an elementary science methods course when solving task oriented problems. A determination of the effects of critical thinking, cognitive style, and choice of teaching level (independent variable) on problem solving efficiency (dependent variable) was also…