Studies the importance of both debate discussion and general political discussion in predicting political cognition. Finds that political conversations with others leads to much learning, controlling for effects of education, gender, political interest and media use. (MG)

Attempts to integrate Perry's (1970) scheme of the cognitive development of college students with a model of group development adapted by Waldo (1985) based on Tuckman's (1965) formulation of developmental group stages. (Author)

Explored is young children's ability to estimate set sizes and use reference points such as 10. Results indicated that many children could accurately place sets somewhat smaller than a reference point but had difficulty placing sets somewhat larger than a reference point. (CW)

Presented stories concerning an actor who precipitated negative consequences after having either issued a disclaimer or not to 144 British children, ages 5 to 11. The findings that only 11 year olds recommended reducing punishment for actors issuing disclaimers supported the hypothesis that this behavior appears later. (NL)

Compares the effect of weak, flexible, and rigid family structures on the cognitive development of 61 Scottish and 40 Pakistani school children in Glasgow, Scotland. In a problem-solving test, children from flexible environments outperformed those from either weakly or rigidly structured homes. This difference was reflected in the school…

Uses William B. Stiles' discourse analysis system to determine whether there are general differences in the way individuals varying in construct system development use their utterances to establish understanding with each other. Finds that construct system development was positively correlated with edification and question response mode use, and…

Examined were children's conception of changes in the state of matter and their understanding of the reversibility of the process. The relationship between children's intuitive ideas about matter, as observed in this study, and their logical ability to conserve weight is discussed. (CW)

Cognitive and academic behaviors promoted by an ongoing, long-term Direct Instruction preschool project for poverty level children (N=109) are described. Children who received two years of training achieved at substantially higher normative levels than children trained for only one year and this advantage continued in first and second grades.…

Discusses various theories concerning the purpose of children's humor, especially in the classroom. Describes ways in which children use humor to deal with stress. (RJC)

Examined applicability of scaffolding and zone of proximal development to the study of dementia. Compared caregiver-patient dyads (n=29) to normal elderly dyads (n=16) in terms of strategies used in completing the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. Results indicated that caregiver-patient dyads can be observed…

Investigated differences in achievement of 221 kindergartners with different cognitive tempos. Results suggest that kindergartners who exhibit an impulsive cognitive tempo may be judged by teachers as being less academically and socially competent than other kindergartners. (RJC)

The article asserts that books on tape with sound illustrations (accurate narrative descriptions of graphics and photos) and tactile books stimulate visually impaired and blind children to better understand the physical world. (Author/DB)

The use of taxonomic scales to assess the level of student cognitive development and thinking skills, and to structure instruction is discussed. One instructor's method is presented. Perry's taxonomy is graphically illustrated. Sources for five assessment instruments are listed. (CW)

Presented is a study in which students' intellectual reasoning development was evaluated following instruction that emphasized formal operations in a traditional lecture format. Results indicated that formal-operational students had significantly more success in the three reasoning areas than transitional students and transitional students had…

Presented is a criticism of Lawson's (1988) article on the development of misconceptions of biological concepts. Lawson's response to this criticism follows. (CW)