Compared the use of microcomputers, providing either substantial or minimal scaffolding, to traditional resources on preschoolers' cognitive development over eight weeks. Found that computer assisted instruction software increased verbal and language skills, but not math skills, and only as a function of substantial scaffolding. Software with…

Considers the role of evolution and natural selection in the functioning of the modern human brain. Natural selection equipped humans with a mental toolbox of intuitive theories about the world which were used to master rocks, tools, plants, animals, and one another. The same toolbox is used today to master the intellectual challenges of modern…

Investigates the perceptions of first-year, undergraduate women at 23 two- and four-year colleges. Results indicate several negative relationships between perceived chilly climates and women's cognitive growth. Negative relationships were more pronounced for women attending two-year colleges than for their counterparts at four-year institutions.…

Rehabilitates teaching techniques that exploit both the meaning-driven and form-focused potential of reformulation and reconstruction tasks in English-as-a-Second-Language classes. Argues that the potential for focusing learners' attention on form has received little attention in instruction models. (30 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a model for understanding children's formation of schemas of self, other, and how self and other do and should communicate emotion. Attributes important roles to families' tendencies to display or not display emotion and to their rules regarding desirability and importance of communicating emotion. Notes that child characteristics and…

Reviews studies comparing short- and long-term effects of language-based socially and cognitively interactive play enrichment in day care and the home during infancy. Found that both day care and home children experiencing intervention advanced to high levels of language and cognitive functioning compared to control children. Advantages of home…

Claims that role play has a crucial role in early childhood education. Discusses the essence of play, child development, and the concept of frame play, whereby children and teachers plan and play together. Provides two examples of frame play and discusses their educational implications. (MOK)

Notes the differences between kindergarten and first grade in terms of children's learning styles and curriculum. Points out that play can be useful in kindergarten and also first-grade classrooms. Suggests the use of child-initiated learning centers to provide age-appropriate and individually appropriate activities. Gives examples of…

Describes research on brain development and its relationship to music education. Discusses how music helps some people organize the way they think and work and how music helps them develop in other areas, including mathematics, language, and spatial reasoning. (10 references) (LMI)

Suggests that any model of washback must include insights from the theory of educational innovation to help explain why tests do not always have the desired or feared effect. Key concepts in educational innovation are reviewed, showing how these concepts are manifested in a case study in washback and outlining how they are being applied in recent…

Two experiments on children's inferences and associative memory provided a supportive test of fuzzy-trace theory. Results indicated that false recognition of associated instances with delay declined for all children, and categorical inferences increased for older children. Verbatim memory and inferences were uncorrelated under short delay but…

Studied the sociocultural context in which Brazilian children acquire and use everyday mathematics in terms of currency use. Participants were 105 children, ages 4 to 11, and their parents. Found decreased use of currency with increasing age. Children also used currency to aid their problem solving and progressed from global estimates to the…

Examined 5- to 12-year-olds' judgment regarding the behavior of balance scales and other levers whose arms varied in a causal or a noncausal variable. Results indicated age-related increases in correct judgments about the influence of physical features of objects at an earlier age than about spatial relations between objects. (MOK)

This article describes the modifications that 12 early childhood educators in Japan made to the Sorry! board game to encourage kindergartners' logico-mathematical thinking. Logico-mathematical knowledge is described as including classification, seriation, numerical relationships, spatial relationships, and temporal relationships. Examples of seven…

Three studies investigated preschoolers' reasoning about ability. Findings suggested sensitivity to mental state information when judging another child's ability, and they perceived positive correlations between effort and academic success, and "niceness" and high academic ability. Comparisons with 9- to 10-year-olds suggest that…