The design and architecture of two user-controlled, computer-based problem analysis environments in classical mechanics are discussed. In the expert-like environment, the user analyzes problems according to a hierarchical concept schema consistent with how experts analyze novel problems in physics. In the second environment, the user searches a…

One approach to the study of cognitive processes highlights the distinctions between expert and novice problem solvers. This approach attempts to discover how experts and novices differ in the way they organize, retain and use domain related knowledge. It appears to some that what is learned from expert-novice research can help teachers to teach…

This investigation examined the relationship between problem solving ability and the criteria used to decide whether two classical mechanics problems could be solved similarly. The investigators began by comparing experts and novices on a similarity judgment task and found that experts predominantly relied on the problems' deep structure in…

Examined were effects of advance organizer (AO) instruction on acquisition of conservation concepts in 3- and 4-year-olds. Participants were 28 children who were equally divided into experimental and control groups, pretested, and found to be nonconservers. A sequence of two AO lessons and related learning activities was presented to the…

Systematic observations of thousands of high school students in the California Mentally Gifted Minors/Gifted and Talented Education programs identified five principles underlying the development of high level thinking skills in this population: (1) Exceptional performance on any criterion requires mutually reinforcing antecedents, the effects of…

Responding to recent advances in developmental and cognitive science research on knowledge acquisition, this report presents a theoretical framework for analyzing cognitive development as a process of learning. The first section summarizes three developmental characteristics recognized in both the Piagetian and the quantita experimental tradition:…

Baumeister's (1968) hypothesis that mentally retarded children exhibit depressed levels of performance and greater intra-individual variability when compared to intellectually non-handicapped children of similar chronological age was investigated. Eight 10-year-old educable mentally retarded boys and 16 non-handicapped boys, matched by either…

To investigate young children's understanding of metaphorical language, 90 chidren from preschool to third grade were read stories ending with metaphorical sentences of varying degrees of difficulty--sentences representing more or less predictable story outcomes and differing in the complexity and explicitness of their figures of speech. After…

This study attempted to explain the findings of classical studies about young children's classification ability, namely that young children: (1) categorize on the basis of perceptual or concrete properties, (2) classify in a linear, nonhierarchical manner, and (3) use inconsistent criteria for classification. The study further proposed that…

This paper focuses on the ways in which nonparental significant adults affect adolescents' lives. Section 1 provides an overview of the literature regarding nonparental adults and their impact on adolescents. The concentration is on role models and significant adults. Section 2 explores the shift in developmental theory to an interactionist…

While research provides many examples of preschoolers' overconfidence and overestimation of performance, there has thus far been relatively little investigation of the source of these qualities. Recent research suggests that even 2- and 3-year-old children possess a "theory of mind," and know that they and other people think, know,…

Two studies investigated the origins of message evaluation skills in preschool children. In the first study, 14 preschoolers and 14 second graders were asked to evaluate the informativeness of pictorial messages in a referential communication task in two sessions. Results showed that the younger children overestimated the informativeness of…

This handbook provides a collection of stimulation activities that encourage a child's physical and mental growth from birth to five years of age. Emphasis is placed on making stimulation aids that are inexpensive or can be made from scrap materials. Advice is given about ways to carry out designated activities. All activities have been tried and…

The purpose of this study was to determine the types of research methods used to study cognitive processing development in gifted learners, from 1975-1986. Of 870 research publications identified on giftedness, 522 publications (60 percent) dealt with cognitive processing development. Research designs used most frequently were causal-comparative,…

In England, a 40-item test of a child's ability to draw the ground floor layout of his or her home was developed. Findings of initial analyses indicated that subjects' drawings improved between the ages of 6 and 12 years. In order to test the cross-cultural validity of the standardization of the test and to see if the order of concept development…