Study examined developmental differences in teaching quality between elementary intern teachers and regularly trained beginning teachers during their first five years. Information from written surveys of teacher concerns, classroom observations, and follow-up interviews indicated intern teachers were at equivalent levels or slightly behind…

Examines the five progressive stages of Michael Parson's model for understanding aesthetic development: (1) favoritism; (2) beauty and realism; (3) expressiveness; (4) style and form; and (5) autonomy. Argues that the model can be applied to all ages. Uses Parsons' model to show how a congresswoman's level of aesthetic development can influence…

The order of acquisition of a set of linguistic structures and the relationship between structures were examined over 5 years in 28 language-impaired children (age 4) and 32 language-matched normal children. Results demonstrated a marked similarity between groups, suggesting that the linguistic impairments may be principally processing, not…

Analysis of data on children's ideas about seeing and light is reported. Analysis is theoretically informed by Piagetian stage theory of genetic epistemology. Data produced by other researchers have been recoded to enable quantitative comparisons to be made with the survey data reported by Shayer and Adey (1981). Patterns in the data exposed by…

College honors programs provide an especially promising context in which to promote reflective judgment by challenging and expanding students' intellectual horizons. However, faculty must carefully assess the different levels of cognitive development among their students, cultivate the skills of reflective judgment accordingly, and understand that…

This study examined whether toddlers build a repertoire of words as integral sequences of gestures and then differentiate these sequences into their gestural and segmental components. Results demonstrate clear differences in duration and coordination of gestures between children and adults and a shift toward the patterns of adult speakers during…

Assigned drawings of 217 children (ages 4, 6, 8, and 10) were evaluated for both developmental and ability-related differences. Age-related trends were found in the ability to render perspective with talented children making flexible and elaborate use of perspectival abilities. Artistic abilities other than perspective appeared to be less…

Interviews Virginia Varga, Montessori teacher trainer and initiator of the first Montessori toddler program in the country. Discusses her childhood, how she became involved in Montessori, the benefits of the toddler program in terms of the child developing a sense of independence, and what Ms. Varga thinks the future holds for Montessori…

Examines developmental stages of reading from preschool to secondary school. Discusses cognitive requirements of various stages of reading and identifies possible sources of difficulty. Presents several case vignettes to illustrate common patterns of reading disabilities and their behavioral manifestations. Offers specific suggestions for…

Examined the development of self-evaluative biases by having children at 3 age levels (5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 years) evaluate themselves or another child when given social or temporal comparison feedback. Found that there was greater bias for general ability evaluations by older children and greater bias for specific performance evaluations by younger…

Investigated associations between ego development and emotion communication in 73 adolescents, 33 of whom were residents of an inpatient psychiatric hospital. Found that enthusiasm, affection, anxiety, and neutrality were directly associated with higher stages of ego development, whereas sadness and anger were inversely correlated with ego…

Acquisition of passive and active vocabulary in sign and oral language was analyzed in 2 children congenitally deaf, through age 54 months. Acquisition of sign occurred more quickly than oral language. Production of active nouns, function words, and "wh" question words in sign was equivalent to that of hearing peers, and was later transferred to…

Applies theoretical reasoning concerning transitional knowledge to a problem in literacy development. Examines a longitudinal data set composed of 46 children each of whom completed 6 stories over a 2-year period. Suggests that detecting children who are in transition for emergent to conventional literacy has critical implications for classroom…

The development of children's causal knowledge is investigated by analyzing changes in the content and form of the explanations they generate across the age span of three to nine years. The balance of incremental versus fundamental change and the forms each takes in children coming to understand the working of gears are examined. Three phases of…

Outlines a four-stage developmental process (exhilaration, rejection, integration, and transformation) through which college students learn to apply experiential education theories to their practices as staff interns in an adventure education program for children. Discusses implications for intern supervision and the design of internship programs.…