Although counselors have implicitly understood and used a number of its tenets, an action-theoretical approach is a relatively recent development in career counseling. This digest analyzes the tenets of this approach. An action approach to career counseling sees clients as agents who steer and direct their activities. It represents an integration…

Pictures are often used by cognitive psychologists to investigate the development of cognitive functions. Different attributes of the picture, such as object or picture familiarity, word frequency, and age of acquisition, are known to correlate with naming latency and to affect memory, particularly retrieval processes. But without the use of…

Drama is a means to develop imagination and empathy. Simulated experiences can affect profoundly one's judgment and understanding, adding insights and expanding the frame of reference. The name game is a good beginning exercise, especially if participants do not know one another. Each player states his or her name and a favorite object that begins…

This study investigated manifestations of collaborative work with pairs of kindergarten children during counting tasks designed to promote early number development. The data were collected by means of classroom observations, interviews with individual students, and teaching sessions with pairs of students. Ten students were paired to be compatible…

This symposium examines the science education research enterprise from multiple theoretical perspectives. The first paper, "Contextual Constructivism; The Impact of Culture on the Learning and Teaching of Science (William Cobern), focuses on broad issues of culture and how constructivism is affected by the context of culture. Culturally based…

Some studies of young children's understanding of false belief have generated controversy, even to the extent that others' failure to replicate these studies was viewed as problematic. A Vygotskian perspective on internalization enables researchers to reverse the classic developmental competence-performance distinction, and to argue that the…

Two studies examined preschoolers' understanding of germs as causes of illness. Previous research suggests that preschoolers know that certain behaviors lead to illness without understanding why or how. In the first study, 22 children between 4 and 5 years old were presented with 12 brief stories describing characters engaged in either dangerous…

This paper briefly explores the related enterprises that assisted Virginia Woolf in her effort to re-form the English novel to include, not only the deeds, but the thoughts of her characters. Among these enterprises were Woolf's diaries, which she utilized to practice writing, work out her writing philosophy, and collect observations which would…

This paper discusses a theory of the formation of social stereotyping and prejudice in children. This intergroup-developmental theory of prejudice has three primary goals: to account for the development of stereotyping and prejudice across multiple domains; to provide a developmental account of social stereotyping, outlining how developmental…

Theories concerning cognitive development or complexity include one developed by W. G. Perry, Jr., and his colleagues (1970). Research related to Perry's scheme is analyzed to suggest ways by which this particular theory can be validated. The first part of the paper describes Perry's scheme and assumptions of cognitive development theories in…

This digest attempts to present the main arguments in favor of early childhood education and care as a high priority area of educational development. The digest also tries to delineate the present "state of the art" of early childhood education and care. The digest has two foci, expressed as two clusters of questions: (1) What does the…

This study examined the development of cognitive perspective taking skills and the lack of consistency across perspective taking measures in earlier studies. Four perspective taking measures were administered to 56 children between 4 and 10 years of age under two testing conditions. The high structure condition included multiple presentation of…

In an effort to ensure that the arts receive equity with other areas of study, this paper presents an argument for the value of arts education in children's development. The argument is based on the work of four experts: (1) Nelson Goodman, who held that symbols are indispensable to communication, and that children's capacity for acquiring…

The study discusses an intervention program for three young Down's syndrome children who had shown communication problems with other children. A game situation was developed in which the Japanese children interacted among themselves and with adults. Rules were designed to provide a structured context for the game, and the rules were kept within…

Educators are under almost constant pressure to make schooling relevant to the lives of their students. Students, however, who are never exposed to the realms of possibility beyond their own immediate experience hardly have an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of education, since everyday experience tends to reinforce social inequalities.…