This study was designed to assess parents' awareness of their young children's linguistic and cognitive levels and affective preferences in an attempt to investigate why parents modify their speech when talking to young children. Sixteen middle-class couples and their first-born children between the ages of 2 and 5 years participated in the study.…

Research literature concerning children's comprehension of pictures was compiled in order to clarify the role of textbook-type pictures in primary school children's learning of mathematics. The review is presented in eight sections: (1) psychological studies which investigated the role of imagery, comparing pictures with words, including (a)…

Sensing a need for change in the dentistry curriculum, faculty members from the School of Dentistry of the University of Louisville met with educational and psychological consultants with the purpose of updating the present didactic and organizational program. A Discrepancy Analysis System (DAS), also called Cognitive Dissonance, was chosen to…

This study attempted to prove a dichotomy between cognitive processes as measured by Piagetian reasoning tasks and those measured by traditional intelligence tests. A battery of tests (Slosson Intelligence Test, Durrell's Silent Reading and Listening Comprehension Test, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, and the Piagetian Measure of Cognitive…

Forty-three preschoolers (14 three-, 16 four-, and 13 five-year-olds), who were attending four multi-age, child-centered classes in a University laboratory school, were assessed for perceptual, cognitive, and affective role-taking ability. These same children were then observed naturalistically (via systematic time sampling) in laboratory…

The literature suggests a "concrete" to "abstract" hierarchy in concept acquisition. However, typical tests do not reflect this hierarchy. Studies have been reported in which an "abstract" option for an item was included in with a "concrete" option and with distractors. This procedure assumes that "abstract" and "concrete" behavior is on a common…

The authors surveyed experts in the field of neuro-behavioral research to determine the directions of progress being made in increasing understanding of neural processing and storage of information. Based on this investigation, their report presents examples of research being pursued in this area. The authors see neuro-behavioral research leading…

The concepts of cognitive development and objectivity are explored preparatory to a discussion of a suitable theory of development to be used as the foundation for developmentally-based standardized tests. It is hypothesized that Piagetian theory is the most appropriate basis for such tests and two possible approaches for constructing…

The report describes the development of the final 2 years of an intensive elementary school curriculum for fifth and sixth grade educable mentally retarded (EMR) children, to provide them with an opportunity to achieve their maximum potential for intellectual development, productivity, independence, and psychological well-being. Most of the…

A study was conducted to determine whether the child expresses linguistic knowledge during the single-word period. The order of mention in 65 sets of successive single-word utterances from five children at Stage 1, two to four years old, were analyzed. To elicit speech, the children were shown line drawings representing such situations as animate…

The foundations of the cognitive developmental curriculum movement are briefly examined in the paper. The key features of this movement are the recommendations it makes in three areas: curriculum sequencing, curriculum content, and teaching strategies. Each of these areas is critically examined. It is concluded that the grounds for all proposals…

This document describes and evaluates a high school chemistry course developed to promote formal reasoning in students by increasing opportunities for self-regulation and to increase student understanding of chemical concepts by making instruction relevant to their developmental level. General results indicate that students enrolled in the course…

In a pilot study of children's drawings of "a house with a tree behind it," Piagetian sequence (scribbling, fortuitous realism, failed realism, intellectual realism, and visual realism) was tentatively supported. Children's strategies in decentering from intellectual to visual realism were noted. The study reported in this paper was…

The purpose of this study was the development and validation of a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess the formal stage of development as defined by Piaget. Initially, a 42-item test was constructed; item content included syllogisms, verbal analogies, combinatorial and probabilistic reasoning, and questions similar to Piagetian tasks. This…

This report is a followup of an earlier study which attempted to assess the effectiveness of a Montessori program for preschool inner-city children. Data collected from the children over a 3-year followup period is analyzed, and the children's performance is compared with that of various control groups. There was some evidence that children in the…