The renewed interest in teaching thinking skills results from concern about the failings of the current system. Some thinking skills programs emphasize cognitive processes, while others are concerned with heuristics, development of formal operations, language and symbols, or thinking as subject matter. (TE)

Analyzes the exploratory patterns of 112 children ages 4 to 12, using visual and auditory stimuli and toy preference and toy exploration tasks. Finds that a preference for complexity and for unknown toys increases with age and notes age differences in exploratory patterns and question-asking behavior. (Author/CB)

Reviews empirical research on the development of ethnic attitudes and finds overlapping sequences: (1) progression from a focus on oneself to a focus on groups, and then on individuals; and (2) progression from affective to perceptual to cognitive forms of differentiation. Also discusses differences between majority and minority group children.…

This article reports the findings of a research project on public and private high schools in the United States. The principal researchers found that Catholic schools and non-Catholic private schools are more effective than public schools in helping students to acquire cognitive skills. (SSH)

Educators have begun to consider the language used to address children in the mass media. Much of the language describing music is derived from spatial terminology, an area many children find difficult. This study found many incongruities and inconsistencies in how television and radio programs dealt with this problem. (Author/IS)

Describes a study that attempts to validate the Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise (ELSIE), purported to be a quick and easy means to identify and analyze a postulated relationship between preference for sensory modality in learning style and the potential for success in second language learning. (SL)

Herman Epstein's theory correlating children's learning capacity with periodic spurts and plateaus in brain growth is predicated on inadequate data and questionable interpretations thereof, and it is discredited by highly respected scholars, including those he cites. Applying this theory to classroom practice is therefore irresponsible and…

Seymour Papert, creator of LOGO, explains how he came to create this important problem-solving language and how he intended it to be used to foster learning among children. What children can do with turtle geometry (indicated to be a natural approach to mathematics) is one topic considered. (Author/JN)

Measured cognitive complexity in 76 college freshmen and tested them again four years later. Results showed most students made significant growth in conceptual level, particularly during the freshman year. No significant differences were found between cognitive complexity and gender, academic persistence, place of residence, or activities. (JAC)

Surveyed 269 freshmen students at a nonresidential college to study faculty influence on student development in a commuter setting. Results suggested that the quality of student-faculty interactions may be more important in the personal and intellectual development of commuter students than the frequency of the interactions. (JAC)

Discusses how visual perception may be adapted for language teaching purposes. Since the study of language is not restricted to the verbal domain, a language teaching strategy involving visual aids enables the learner to communicate both actively and passively in a foreign language, thus contributing to an understanding of language and…

A study is reported in which subjects aged 8 - 18 years made magnitude estimations of height for targets whose height and distance from them varied. For distances up to 15m, and heights from 5 to 50 cm, size constancy prevailed at all ages. (MS)

Discusses the vital importance of the preschool period in educational terms and maintains that early influences are much more effective than later experience; one cannot look upon nursery schools as merely child care services. (MS)

This paper attempts to show how Bruner's views regarding discriminate decision-making could be applied to efforts to plan and sequence learning activities in which secondary students examine and respond to works of art. (MB)

Kohlberg, inspired by Piaget's cognitive developmental approach to moral development, expands the structural cognitive approach through more systematic longitudinal, cross-cultural, social class, and educational research. (Author)