Three experiments with preschoolers tested the independence of the current state buffer from working memory. Findings indicated that when a teddy bear was an object put away with other toys, only half the preschoolers remembered its location despite explicit instructions. When the teddy was a character interacting with children, all remembered its…

Explores the pedagogical role of perceived teacher confirmation in the college classroom. Finds: (1) support for confirmation as a crucial communication variable; (2) a need for further research to clarify the issue of defining "disconfirmation"; (3) support for earlier research establishing confirmation as a receiver-based variable; and…

Describes in operational terms the benefits of Montessori's developmental perspective for children from birth to 3 years, and from 3 to 6 years. Identifies optimal outcomes for social, moral, cognitive, and emotional development to be used in educational and psychological research and for child assessment. (KB)

Examined whether and when children use information about others' mental states to invent or select persuasive strategies in three studies. Found older children, but not preschoolers, used belief information in stories to select arguments; and kindergartners' and first-graders' reasoning on false belief tasks suggested the failure to consider…

Explores the idea that play is one of the fundamental processes by which children develop their understanding of the world by looking at play as an intrinsically motivated activity. (WRM)

The Basic School Network, Housed at James Madison University in Virginia, plans lessons based on Ernest L. Boyer's Core Commonalities--a system of eight themes underlying all human experience aimed at renewing early childhood education. Commonalities include the life cycle, use of symbols, membership in groups, sense of time and space, response to…

Observations of 22 preschool children with cognitive delays during home-based play, made approximately 13 months apart, found no statistically significant change for the proportion of time spent in various categorical play behaviors. Children's relative ranking on play sophistication also remained stable. Significant changes were found in…

Theoretical issues regarding cognitive development and psychosocial development are reviewed. The possible relationships between identity statuses and Perry positions and the effects of gender and educational level on those developmental processes are studied. Results, implications for practice, issues in program development, and recommendations…

People experience mental incongruity when there is a discrepancy between a standard and their own experience of a situation or behavior. The influence of adolescents' standards and mental incongruity on the development of their identity (N=706) was studied in both work and relational domains using structural equation models. (Author/EMK)

A longitudinal study of 23 colleges and universities sought to estimate the impacts of on- and off-campus work on standardized measures of student cognitive development across three years. Findings suggest that, for the most part, work that does not exceed 15 or 20 hours a week does not seriously affect student cognitive development. (SLD)

Describes case study groups, a method to help teachers and other school personnel see what developmental and adjustment issues students face. Describes how case study group members collect information from a range of sources, code the information into behavioral anecdotes, spot gaps in information, and select new experiences that might help…

Examined the moral and ecological reasoning of second, fifth, and eighth graders regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Found that children understood negative effects of the spill, cared that harm occurred to shoreline and marine life, and thought it violated a moral obligation. Fifth and eighth graders used a greater proportion of anthropocentric…

Suggests that the teaching/learning/research process should be rethought of as a collaborative social learning for constructivism to be meaningful in science education. Includes perspectives on George Kelly's personal construct psychology and Glaserfeld's radical constructivism. (AIM)

Examined validity of use of human figure drawing to evaluate cognitive development status using Piagetian tasks with 7- to 11-year-olds. Found that scores for children's drawings of a man and a woman correlated significantly with mental imaging, conservation of mass, and conservation of length, suggesting the possibility of finding patterns to…

Comparison of matched pairs of elementary students in mainstream and special education showed that, after 2 years (n=504), students with disabilities achieved more in math in regular education; motivation was higher in special education. After 4 years (n=216), those in regular education had progressed more academically than those in special…