Discusses a proposed interconnectedness between the ecologies of ethnic minority families, adaptive strategies, socialization goals, and child development outcomes. (PCB)

Uses classroom anecdotes to illustrate how social forces limit literacy as a tool enabling students to think for themselves. Defines literacy as involving knowledge, learning, and culture. Appeals to teachers to enhance learners' inventive and analytical skills by putting them in touch with their own intelligence and intuition. (TES)

The research reported in this study was done to evaluate the understandings developed by students who meet science concepts through a textbook. Findings indicated that concrete concepts were better understood by eighth grade students than formal concepts and that students achieved some understanding of some formal concepts. (CW)

Examines theoretical framework of ethnic identity development in Mexican-American preschool and elementary school children. Two studies based on cognitive development theory assessed an instrument for measuring ethnic identity and for evaluating data. Children's Ethnic Identity Questionnaire responses were found consistent with framework guiding…

Investigates the effect of a directed-inquiry approach to learning science process skills and scientific problem solving in the high school biology laboratory. Reports no main effect of the approach but an interaction effect of the approach and cognitive development. (Author/YP)

Study aimed to understand how home and school factors either facilitate or impede children's adaptation to school by examining longitudinal data on cognitive performance for a large and diverse sample of youngsters over grades one and two in Baltimore City Public Schools. (JRC)

Describes a computer program under development that is to be used as a tool for theory builders, teachers, and students in language learning. This is an interactive program and not only helps the learning of a language but also provides analysis on how language is learned. Questions if computers learn. (GG)

Described is a study of 147 students that indicated a high proportion of students did not understand the concept of limiting factors. Textbook presentations that create problems are discussed. Strategies which may be more effective in teaching the concept are suggested. (CW)

Social-cognitive modes of play and peer responses were observed in two classrooms of 40 three-year-olds, two classrooms of 32 four-year-olds, and two classrooms of 36 three- and four-year-olds. Developmental differences appeared in play patterns in same-age but not in mixed-age classrooms. (TJH)

The primary problem of teacher education is seen as a developmental issue. A justification of a reflective inquiry in teacher education is presented emphasizing its benefits for teacher empowerment. A brief synopsis of an attempt to implement these ideas in a foundational course in educational psychology is offered. (JD)

How students restructured their scientific ideas in response to contradictions was studied with 166 male and female students (aged 12 to 14 years) who tested their predictions about water displacement by experiment. Conceptual change varied; all subjects tended to hold onto old ideas, even when presented with conflicting information. (SLD)

Explored the interrelations between cultural-familial factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, family structure, and parental behavior and measures of metacognitive and academic performance in 154 second-grade children. Findings corroborated assertions that theories emphasizing racial differences in cognitive and metacognitive functioning…

Examined 8- and 10-year olds' understanding of the unique features of and potential relations among mental activities. Found a developing tendency to organize mental activities on the degree to which memory was a component of the activity. Results suggest that a constructivist theory of mind develops in later childhood. (AA)

Uses manipulative materials to build and examine geometric models that simulate the self-similarity properties of fractals. Examples are discussed in two dimensions, three dimensions, and the fractal dimension. Discusses how models can be misleading. (Contains 10 references.) (MDH)

Validated models of mental addition processing by testing children and adults in a production task paradigm. Examined individual-difference relations between strategy choice parameters and criterion-related measures of ability. Found that individual differences in the apparently calculative processes that underlie numerical facility are highly…