A student development instrument, the Scale of Intellectual Development (SID), designed to measure a model of cognitive development. Validated the instrument with a sample of college freshmen (N=3,321). Results suggest that the SID has promise as a student development instrument; however, additional validation evidence needs to be collected. (RC)

Describes an experiment to see whether the words "front" and "back" introduce the concept of "front-back" or whether the concept preceded the words. Results show that (1) a complex disjunctive concept of "front-back" orientation precedes any knowledge of the words; (2) linguistically, "back" is comprehended before "front"; and (3) children at an…

Describes a study in which children are asked to choose the most probable or permissible of two modal propositions, a technique which assesses the children's appreciation of relative force. Results indicate that the general acquisition rule was: the greater the difference in the strength of the two modal propositions, the earlier the difference…

This discussion is primarily designed to increase teachers' awareness of Piaget's theory of cognitive development and implications for mathematics in the middle school. It is hoped such awareness will compel instructors to adopt strategies that help pupils gain more from mathematical experiences, by providing impetus for innovation and…

Research in progress on some unresolved issues regarding the relationship of cognitive development and language acquisition is reported, especially the relationship between conservation of length and knowledge of relevant comparative dimensional adjectives. Much further investigation is recommended and possible educational implications are…

Educable mentally retarded (EMR) children were presented an item selection task to assess their sensitivity to orthographic structure in printed English words. Analyses of performance indicated that EMR children do acquire implicit knowledge of orthographic rules and that this ability is related to the development of reading skills. (Author)

Research concerning cerebral asymmetry and its effect on scholastic achievement, reading disabilities, learning disabilities, and linguistic competence is reviewed in an exploration of brain hemisphere-specific etiologies of dyslexia. (CJ)

Studied adults (ages 20-79) presented with two types of problem-solving tasks: a typical task used in problem-solving research, and a task composed of practical daily life problems. Results indicated that developmental function depends on the type of problem presented, while performance on abstract problems may decrease with age. (Author)

Investigates adolescents' perceptions of impressions held about them by important others, focusing on cross-sectional differences from early to late adolescence in the structure of social self-conceptions, on differences between parental and peer social self-conceptions and between individual and social self-conceptions, and on adolescents'…

Imitation by infants functions in two ways: (1) to help the individual understand a puzzling event, and (2) to indicate mutuality with another person. Although changes in cognitive understanding influence the course of imitation, the occurrence of imitation in specific situations may be governed by the interplay of the two functions that imitation…

Children's abilities to judge "who is older" without using size as a cue were studied. Five-year-olds were better able to discriminate age than four-year-olds but were not equal to adults. No significant sex differences were found. (Author/RD)

Three experiments were conducted to examine children's use of multiplying and proportionality rules in judgments of area. In the first two experiments, 7- through 8-year-olds were asked to judge the area of rectangles. In the third, 8- through 11-year-olds were tested on ratio of a rectangle compared to a horizontal line. Results indicated…

The hypothesis that overall-similarity relations structure both adults' and children's classifications of heterogeneous objects (objects that differ in a variety of ways) was supported in two experiments. When objects varied simultaneously on many dimensions, adults and children constructed classifications that maximized within-category similarity…

Describes project SWING (Starting With Individual Growth), a comprehensive preschool education program for children at risk of a wide range of learning or social difficulties. (Author/RH)

Depressed outpatients received treatment focusing on interpersonal skills, cognitions, or pleasant events. Patients received immediate treatment or delayed treatment. All treatment modalities significantly alleviated depression. All patients improved on most dependent variables, regardless of whether variables were directly addressed in treatment.…