Describes some of the ways early adolescents respond to reading and thinking tasks and details the development of procedures for observing and analyzing children as they complete such tasks. (FL)

Spatial ability and Piagetian tasks were administered to 80 schooled/non-schooled Fulanis (primarily nomadic and hunters) and agriculturalists (living a settled life). Results indicated that Fulanis develop spatial skills adapted to the ecological demands of their lives and that schooled students performed better on Piagetian tasks than…

The infant's impressions of his environment are viewed by several philosophers, including Jean Piaget. There has been some past tendency to suppose that, prior to the acquisition of language, the infant has no real impressions about his environment. More recent understandings consider that the infant is capable of conceptualization and can express…

Discusses the developmental needs of foster children when they are seperated from their natural parents. Examines stages of separation trauma, including shock, protest, despair, and detachment. Notes suggestions for counseling with foster children, including a foster parent's and educator's view. (RC)

Summarizes a pilot project which investigated how elementary school children in Southeast Asia learn science and mathematics concepts at different cognitive levels using the modified clinical method and group task approach. Includes the Concept Learning Project's basis, goals, phases, methodology, activities, and a summary of the findings. (DS)

An effective inservice teacher education program was found to have the characteristics of: (1) immediate applicability to the classroom; (2) use of teacher input; (3) curriculum change and innovation; and (4) provisions for ongoing, continuous evaluation. (JN)

Presents an integrated clinical approach, based on a developmental, structuralist framework, to classify adaptive and pathological personality organizations and behaviors in infants and preschool children. (Author/DB)

To understand the processes of learning and to make educational decisions for the future, three levels of environmental and historical context need to be considered. The microsystem represents the most immediate environment, the family; the exosystem includes environment experienced directly, the neighborhood; and the macrosystem represents the…

Aside from being an invasion of privacy, values clarification exercises are inappropriate for most elementary students who, still in the concrete operations stage of mental development, are incapable of generalizing moral principles. It would be better to teach concrete problem-solving processes until the formal operations stage is reached. (SJL)

The author introduces some constructs that provide a linkage between the Piagetian theory of cognitive development and curriculum analysis: externalization and automatization; the intellective unconscious; and the logical substructure of the task. He then offers some examples of developmental analysis of secondary level curriculum materials.…

Intended as a nontechnical review of current scientific knowledge in the field, this essay considers the nature of primary and secondary intellectual abilities, plus the major features of, and the development of individual differences in, the skills and capacities constituting intelligence. Part of a theme issue on intelligence. (Author/SJL)

The author comments on Rafe-uz-Zaman's approach to literacy education (see v9, n1 of this journal) and points out that literacy in adult education must progress from one stage to the next. He discusses pre-literacy (temporarily bypassing literacy instruction), life-oriented and work-oriented literacy education, educational supply and demand, and…

The moral reasoning of teachers enrolled in education courses was examined through an administration of the Defining Issues Test. Teachers were found to be at a generally comparable level to most other adults, but below many college graduates. (JKS)

Describes a study to extend research of Piaget and Jahoda into children's spatial conceptions. Individual testing and interviewing are discussed. Results indicate differences in rate of spatial stages development of Swiss, Scottish and American children, although Piagets' original theorized stages remain invariate. (Author/AV)

Summarizes progressions between 2 and 6 years of age in children's power of concentration, ability to express ideas, build logical relationships, structure spoken words, and play with the semantic, phonetic, syntactical, and morphological aspects of oral language. Notes that the progression depends on the educator's interaction with the child.…