Examined association between understanding of psychological causation and ability of young children from low-income families to produce goal-based episodes in narratives. Participants "read" book and resulting narrative was coded for psychological causation and goal-based episodes. Use of psychological causation was related to age and…

Reports on an 18-month investigation of a teacher's actions during class discussions in a second-grade classroom in which student disagreement was resolved by argumentation. Concludes that creating a classroom environment in which students struggle with their own learning requires that teachers understand the complex relationship between the…

This study compared the development (at 40 months) of 40 deaf and hard-of-hearing infants whose hearing loss was identified either before 6 months or after 18 months. Infants whose hearing loss was identified earlier scored significantly on tests of expressive language and comprehension/concepts. Results support early hearing screening for…

Summarizes research findings that challenge long-standing theories of infant cognition and motor development and proposes alternative theoretical models to describe skill acquisition during the first several years of life. Findings are discussed with respect to research in the area of infant speech physiology and production. (Author/CR)

Examined the effects of Bright Start, an early-education program for providing children in Israel with the cognitive tools for school learning, on first graders' cognitive performance and achievement tests in math and reading comprehension. Found improvements in the test group's performance over all measures. (JPB)

Examined stability of first graders' conceptions of personal prerogative at home and school and their responses to regulations. Found that children identified areas of prerogative at school and considered school to be more restrictive than home; were willing to cede authority to teachers for many personal issues, but reserved rightful decision…

Describes two experiential, academic activities for middle and high school students. Includes target group, group size, time and space requirements, activity level, props/preparation, and instructions. The activities enable students to identify the symbolic value of community places and architecture or raise student awareness about the…

Addresses some criticisms of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) project. Offers a different description of the CASE teaching method and presents evidence from the program. Contains 20 references. (Author/WRM)

Examined ability of Quebec French-speaking first graders to categorize words on the basis of vowel categories. Found that ability to categorize vowels does not develop uniformly but is affected by degree of spectral/articulatory proximity between vowels, by syllable structure, and potentially by characteristics of the input phonology. (JPB)

Examined the impact of an 8-week intervention program designed to reduce racial/ethnic stereotyping among preschoolers varying in classification skill. Found that children in the experimental group had increased in classification skills at posttest and were less likely to sort photo cards by race/ethnicity and more likely to sort them by gender…

Examined effects of storytelling and pretend play on short- and long-term narrative recall in preschoolers. Found that: (1) storytelling and pretend play affected cognitive variables; (2) differences between storytelling and pretend play in facilitating narrative recall were significant; (3) encoding ability exceeded ability to make inferences;…

Examined how elementary school students remember what they learn and how they learn in science and social studies. Found that students used long-term working memory for sorting, interpreting, and integrating representations of classroom experiences as they acquired knowledge and skills. Recollection 12 months later replaced details with inferences…

Describes the MAOF physics education program which is designed to relate large parts of mechanics and electromagnetism to each other via the key concepts of field and potential, while at the same time treat students' conceptual difficulties. Finds that students who studied with the MAOF program significantly improved their physics knowledge…

Proposes a developmental model for early intervention focused on cognitive development. The model addresses short- and long-term effects of early intervention, the mechanisms through which early intervention operates, the relationship between those mechanisms and the organization of existing service systems, current limits of programs, and…

Findings from a prospective longitudinal study of 46 boys with fragile X syndrome (ages 24-72 months) found that, although children varied widely, overall development was significantly delayed to approximately half of the rate of typical children. At every age tested, motor and adaptive development was higher than communication and cognitive…