A discussion of the biological and developmental issues in early second language learning first looks at psycholinguistic research on brain growth patterns and the relationship of first and second language learning. Focus is on three phenomena observed in the self-organization of living systems: selection of input data; organization of specialized…

Directed at practitioners and students of family therapy, this book presents a treatment framework that is compatible with a wide variety of therapeutic techniques. Focusing on the development over time of the family life cycles--from marriages in formation to the "postparental couple"--this book explores the unique challenges and opportunities…

A qualitative longitudinal study, first of four parts, compared developmental movement levels and academic learning levels in young children. Subjects were 28 children of various ages who were not working up to grade level but who did not qualify for learning disability services. Parents completed a detailed demographic survey and a neurological…

Both critical thinking and much of moral education see the function of education as the bringing forth of the rational capacities of the child. Although there are similarities between the interest in critical thinking as the basis for educational reform and the educational concern with the moral development of school children, crucial differences…

By using the Developmental Spelling Analysis, based on the spelling inventories developed at the University of Virginia, teachers can screen students for their present stages of word knowledge in an easy-to-administer format. The planning of developmentally appropriate activities for spelling instruction depends upon informed teachers who come to…

Theories and models of adult development over the life span provide one of the foundational pieces for gaining a clearer understandings of learning in adulthood. Only recently have adult educators spoken more forcefully about the lack of integrated research on adult women. The purpose of this monograph is to describe those missing female voices as…

Academic advisement models in higher education have traditionally focused on the needs of the undergraduate student population. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for graduate student advisement clarifying the role of the graduate student advisor within a developmental context that meets the needs of adult students. The…

This study focused on the development of policy thought, or abstract thinking about policy issues. Political thought may be described as concrete thinking about political phenomena. It includes one's knowledge of and attitude toward objects, people, and events in the political sphere. Policy thought entails the abstract manner in which one…

An investigation was made of the relationships between creativity and factors associated with the aging process of retired and current artists over the age of 65. Its focus was to determine differences among three groups of creative people--continuing artists, retired artists, and new artists--in terms of their views of how aging affects…

Changes in the composition of the work force and changing work values require new life span and career development models that account for individual, gender, and cultural differences in experience. Age/stage models form one school of thought in developmental theory. A major criticism of prevailing theories is that they are based on male…

This booklet discusses the importance of pretend play in the education of young children in Australia. The booklet notes that pretend, or socio-dramatic, play is characterized by imitative role playing, make-believe objects and situations, persistence, interaction, and verbal communication. Pretend play can appear as early as age 2 and peaks at…

This paper addresses two distinctive issues concerning animistic and anthropomorphic thought in the context of constructivist science education. The first concerns the extent of such ways of thinking, both within science itself and within school science. The second concerns the implications of this for theories of instruction in science education.…

Though rooted in neo-Piagetian research, constructivism is an avenue of research that departed from the neo-Piagetian mainstream 20 years ago and has continued on a distinct path of development. For constructivists, learning is not knowledge written on, or transplanted to, a person's mind as if the mind were a blank slate waiting to be written on…

The main purposes of this study were to investigate the relationships among approaches to studying, prior knowledge, logical thinking ability, attitude, and performance in college freshman chemistry and to explore the effect of gender on the same variables. Subjects were 199 students (114 females, 85 males) enrolled in the second semester of a…

A study examined developmental trends in the quality and outcomes of disagreements occurring in the conversation of small groups of acquainted peers. Specifically, the study focused on the relationship of disagreeing and arguing sequences to the general level of topical coherence achieved in the conversation as a whole. Five discussion groups,…