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…

Introduces the concepts of online and offline sampling and highlights the role of online sampling in agent-based models of learning and development. Compares the strengths of each approach for modeling particular developmental phenomena and research questions. Describes a recent agent-based model of infant causal perception. Discusses limitations…

A study involving 18 individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) (ages 9-21) and 67 controls found total score on the Biber Cognitive Estimation Test for both individuals with PDD and controls progressed consistently with mental age, development being the most dramatic around the mental age of 8 years. (Contains references.)…

Reports on a longitudinal study using the computer-based cognitive assessment system CoPS, and considers the applicability of this system in the early identification of cognitive strengths and limitations that affect the development of reading. Concludes that short-term memory is an important predictor variable for reading, in addition to the more…

Written by a father of a child with autism, this article discusses the child's symptoms, the diagnosis of autism, and the child's behavior problems. It describes the use of different types of computer software that has enabled the child to experience a series of cognitive jumps. (CR)

A study examined the executive functioning, in particular the attentional set-shifting deficits in Australian individuals ages 6-20 with high-functioning autism (n=12) and Asperger's disorder (n=12). Results indicate that individuals with autism had a deficiency in shifting from local to global processing, however, this was not observed in…

Explores children's play as social behavior in relation to cognitive style and identifies the social factors underlying both young children's play and cognitive style. Indicates that field-dependent children participated more in social play activities, while field-independent children engaged in more nonsocial play activities. Discusses the…

Investigated the cognitive gains of interacting pairs of Grade 10 students who show low levels of competence and fail to solve a task individually but who improve when working in peer interaction. Found that this phenomenon may occur when the two students disagree, have different strategies, and active hypothesis testing is made possible. (JPB)

Suggests that both critical thinking and obstacles to successful critical thinking are most commonly found in the activities of everyday life. Argues for a connective criticism approach that does not assume critical means adversarial and acknowledges that critical thinking can be used as a means of opening worlds of meaning. (KS)

Compared the effects of constructivist instruction and instruction based on texts and demonstration on third-graders' conceptualization of force. Found that constructivist instruction was more effective. Patterns of reasoning related to force were identified in levels of conceptualization. (JPB)