This article proposes a developmental approach to the assessment of early mathematics disabilities. It examines major findings concerning children's early mathematical thinking, emphasizing counting and calculation skills. Both normal and atypical development are considered, and guidelines for an assessment procedure are offered. A case vignette…

Observed behaviors of 37 female and 23 male Australian preschoolers. Found that only 20% engaged in thematic pretend play (linked to perspective taking, language development, impulse control, divergent problem solving) whereas 24% used cooperative social play (linked to divergent problem solving). Results suggest need for assistance in the…

Proposes analogy as the central mechanism of knowledge acquisition in formal domains. Discusses experimental data on preschoolers' knowledge of one-to-one correspondence and college students' understanding of force decomposition. Suggests that a knowledge base domain is a thematically organized knowledge structure and that thematic relations in a…

Focuses on a single case study of a mentally handicapped child to examine directly the relation between the development of number-after rules and a counting-on from the larger addend (COL) strategy. Examines the development of children's proficiency with n+ and 1+n combinations and the evolution of their counting-on strategies over time. (AA)

Examined age- and schooling-related influences on memory and phonological segmentation skills of 19 children who missed and made the school-entry cutoff date in a given year. Tested recall ability, short term memory strategies, and phonological awareness. Found that growth of memory skills and strategies, particularly short term, is primarily a…

Contrasts recent views of learning and cognition with cognitive learning theories of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Maintains that Jerome Bruner's spiral curriculum approach, still valuable, is not sufficient to explain cognitive development. Proposes a lattice-like cognitive development structure, inviting differing paths of exploration. (CFR)

Reviews research on the development of intentional communication between adult and child. Suggests that the communicative partnership between caregiver and child is dynamic, functioning to assist in the developmental achievements of the child and also functioning as a mechanism for socializing the child and his or her partner into the appropriate…

By understanding the development of the human mind, parents and teachers can learn how to help guide children and adolescents into adulthood. The article examines mental growth at various ages, stumbling blocks to learning, ways of understanding the adolescent mind, and what to look for in a middle school. (SM)

Research in the fields of management, leadership development, and human development is reviewed. The research suggests that the quality of an individual's personal life, the effectiveness of his/her professional work, and the lasting public value of his/her social contribution are contingent upon a coherent sense of personal integration and…

Presents a study that analyzed errors made by randomly chosen fourth grade students (25 of 57) while using the division algorithm and investigated the effect of remediation on identified systematic errors. Results affirm that error pattern diagnosis and directed remediation lead to new learning and long-term retention. (MDH)

Explores two hypotheses about the effect of symbolic systems on psychological functions: (1) culturally elaborated systems of signs affect psychological functioning in a general way; and (2) systems of signs, when used to support skilled action, affect the organization of human activity. Reviews research that supports the second hypothesis. (LB)

This paper examines the writings of Dorothy Harris and other authors, from a psychosocial perspective of sport involvement. It explores ways self-perceptions, social factors, and cognitive and biological maturity interact to explain females' physical activity participation; it proposes a heuristic model to represent an interactional approach. (SM)

Reported are the effects of a conceptually oriented unit on decimal fractions. The relationships between short-term changes in solving processes and the stability of these processes over time, performance of students, and entry achievement level and the long-term effects of conceptually based instruction are discussed. (KR)

In one experiment, subjects from third grade through college relied on memory retrieval rather than on counting to solve multiplication problems. An effect of confusing problems on error rates and reaction times indicated the activation of related information. In a second experiment, subjects demonstrated automaticity of fact retrieval on simple…

Twelve middle school students, working in pairs, used a computer microworld to explore introductory geometric transformational concepts. Despite a tendency for symbolic overgeneralization, the students were able to use visual feedback from the microworld and discussions with partners to correct their own mistakes. (Author/JJK)