The chapters of this publication discuss the following topics related to English programs for gifted high school students: philosophical principles underlying such programs, the study of literature, specific examples of subject matter content in literature, the relationships among various phases of language study, specific examples of subject…

This book presents a theory of child development and learning and explores the implications of this theory for early childhood education. The theory is based on the Piagetian premise that the acquisition of knowledge is the result of an active process of construction. The child mentally transforms the environment by relating new information to…

The relationship between self-concept and level of cognitive development were examined. It was hypothesized that level of cognitive development would predict self-concept response style, and that less cognitively mature young adolescents would have higher self-concept scores. The original subjects were 91 seventh graders who responded to two…

Noting that a study of semantics can inform teachers' understanding of the reading process, this paper describes seven basic types of meaning, illustrates how the interrelatedness of meanings within a semantic field may be shown, and discusses children's acquisition of semantic fields. It cites research into the development of semantic fields in…

This paper compares the effects of television viewing to the effects of imaginative play on children's cognitive development. The major developmental tasks which confront the growing child are presented and the significance of imaginative play as a critical feature of the child's cognitive and affective development is discussed. The cognitive…

This paper attempts to analyze current research on kindergartens, to assess kindergartens' contribution to public school education, and to provide Mississippi legislators and educators with a basis for making decisions concerning a state supported kindergarten program. A chart summarizing legislation relating to kindergarten in the 50 states…

Sex role development in children is based on the processes of social learning and cognitive development. According to social learning theory, the development and emergence of sex-typed behaviors and attitudes can be described by the same learning principles used to account for any other aspect of social behavior, generally principles related to…

This paper examines whether language development can be understood epigenetically in the same manner and based on the same principles with which Piaget has analyzed intellectual-cognitive development generally. The study is subdivided into four parts: (1) some principles in Piaget's system (the epigenetic principle, the genetic circle, and the…

This paper discusses research exploring the performance factors involved in studies which test for formal operations. It is suggested that several previous studies dealing with formal operations confound performance and competence in determining the extent of subjects' formal operations schemata. Factors which might account for performance…

Papers and discussants' comments from a symposium on issues concerning infants' reactions to strangers are presented. Researchers agreed that there is a developmental shift in infant behavior at 7 to 9 months of age when the infant becomes more cautious in approaching strangers. However, investigators hypothesize that the presence of the mother,…

This paper reviews studies in which scores on Piagetian tests of logical thought were correlated with IQ, mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA), and examines the possible effects of the size of the age range and mean age of subjects on these correlations. The data included 44 groups of subjects obtained from 36 studies in which Piagetian and…

On the basis of studies reported elsewhere (SE 019 717 and 719) the author discusses the implications of research on cognitive development for teachers whose subjects involve an understanding of proportionality. Several common methods of teaching chemistry students to use proportionality in chemical problems are described. Research on the…

The impact of social and political events on the development of political attitudes in children is examined. Political learning is seen as an invariant sequence of developmental stages dependent upon physical and intellectual growth, and current events. The data consist of interviews with children at the third through the ninth grade levels. The…

This study examined the impact of culture, language, and familiarity with materials on the ability to solve traditional conservation problems. A total of 80 Tzeltal speaking children from two traditional Mexican Indian (Mayan) villages participated in the study: 5 boys and 5 girls drawn from each of four age group (6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13). The men…

This study investigated the effectiveness of techniques of discipline employed by middle-class mothers to teach their children to resist a tempting forbidden object. Mothers' accuracy in describing their own behavior was also examined. Forty-three mothers and their 18-30-month-old children were brought in pairs into a playroom which contained an…