Research supported in part by grant MH-07994-05 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Investigates the relationships among the first three stages of cognitive, role-taking, and moral development in both transitional and nontransitional subjects ages 5 to 14 years in order to determine whether the pattern of associations conformed more adequately to the "functional unity" model or to the "necessary but not…

Results showed that development is different. Downs syndrome (DS) infants manifested delayed achievement of all tasks studied and were less likely than normal infants to repeat an achieved success. In addition, errors committed by the DS infants did not conform to the characteristic error pattern theoretically predicted for each task. (Author/RM)

A longitudinal study among American adolescents revealed (1) an insignificant impact of field dependence-independence on the development of formal operational thought; (2) continuous development of combinatorial reasoning and propositional logic abilities, but little increase in comprehension of proportionality; and (3) sex differences in formal…

Proposes a three-level model of cognitive processing to account for complex monitoring when individuals are faced with ill-structured problems (i.e., problems on which opposing or contradictory evidence and opinion exists). (Author/RH)

A nonverbal assessment procedure was designed to characterize cognition using a Piagetian framework with six autistic children, five echolalic and one nonverbal, ranging in age from 4.8 to 15.2. All six children evidenced competence beyond sensorimotor Stage VI, and demonstrated cognitive functioning between the periods of early preoperational and…

Observation of academic instruction in regular classes revealed that even though teachers were aware of the presence of gifted and/or highly intelligent students in their classes, they did not use questioning to provide cognitive stimulation for them. It was concluded that improving questioning techniques can enhance student learning and…

Presents 10 guidelines that staff developers can utilize when assisting teachers in teaching thinking skills to students. Provides guidelines for both practical and theoretical guidance for developing workshop materials, conducting training sessions, and conducting follow-up activities. (AH)

Correctional educators must equip students to handle situations more acceptably by raising their moral levels as well as their cognitive levels. Use of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of cognitive-moral development focuses on moral issues rather than moral values. (JOW)

Suggests practical applications of Piagetian theory to reading instruction. (FL)

A five-and-one-half-year-old boy with encopresis (fecal soiling) was successfully treated by a cognitive behavior modification approach in which the child's lavatory time was scheduled and the situation was discussed in an accepting but positive manner. (CL)

Although Piaget's theory remains the most impressive in its field, there are reasons for caution: its tenuous base in good data, overemphasis on failures or successes of logical structure as explanations of behavior, underemphasis on the possibility that much knowledge is socially constructed and transmitted, and the central but dubious tenet of…

The article reports two phases of a study that, through use of Piagetian reasoning assessments, indicated significant delays in the cognitive development of 75 congenitally blind students (6 to 18 years) compared to 75 sighted Ss. Developmentally appropriate reasoning experiences produced equivalent performance of blind Ss to that of the sighted…

The cognitive development of 125 gifted 10-to 15-year-old students was compared to that of 98 normal Ss. Results supported the invariance of stage progression but revealed that gifted Ss progress more quickly and demonstrate earlier transition to succeeding developmental stages. (CL)

The results showed that the performance of the autistic children was better than the other two groups on concrete discrimination tasks, was poorer than the other two groups on formal discrimination tasks, and the quality of the autistic children's performance decreased as task requirements for formal discrimination increased. (Author/SB)