Three studies looked at kindergarten, third and sixth grade students' and adults' comprehension of different types of adaptation or contrast effects for weight and temperature. Results showed improvement up to college age and revealed the importance of using older children in studies of developing theories of the mind. (SAK)

Contends that a metaphor can be a teaching tool, a way of explaining something so that students can better grasp and remember it. Asserts that teachers can improve their effectiveness by exploring the metaphors that educators live by. (MS)

Claims that Campbell and Christopher's literature on moral development construes the cognitive-developmental and domain approaches too narrowly, overinterprets the influence of Kant, excludes other equally important non-Kantian philosophical influences, and ignores much of the research evidence. Describes the need for drawing distinctions in…

In 3 studies, 2.5- and 3-year-olds transferred knowledge from an easy task that required appreciation of a symbolic relation to a more difficult task involving a symbolic relation that children their age typically do not appreciate. Results support the theory that young children use insight into one symbolic relation to understand other symbolic…

Contrasts Fodor's theory of children's Very Simple Theory of Mind, with the view that children's concepts cross-cut the adult conceptual system: young children do not distinguish between the state of affairs a belief is about and how this state of affairs is thought of, which puts a severe limit on their understanding of belief as distinct from…

Spatial capacities of 36 children ages 5-6 were tested in 3 experiments involving an electronic maze, map training and testing, and finding the way out of a cave using a map. All subjects could use simple maps; this ability improved with age. However, no subject navigated the cave without help, perhaps because of stress or task complexity. (SV)

Presents results of a project with second and third graders to establish concepts of equality that led to the realization that teachers often help students too much and may push them algorithmically beyond their ability without the development of proper referents. (Author/MKR)

Tested 13-, 16-, and 20-month olds' and 24- and 28-month olds' categorization of global- and basic-level object sets composed of prototypical and nonprototypical exemplars. Findings offer new information on the effects of prototypicality and on the process of differentiation of early global categories into more specific basic-level ones. (DR)

Introduces the time window, a construct that characterizes when and how the integration of knowledge occurs, which is fundamental to the development of cognition. Describes the characteristics of time windows, evidence supporting them, factors that affect them, research illustrating their generality, and theoretical and applied implications. (ET)

Twenty-four- and 30-month-old children were presented with a picture that showed the location of a hidden toy and were then asked to find the toy. The 30-month olds, but not the 24-month-olds, were successful in retrieving the toy. Concludes that 24-month olds did not interpret the pictures as representations of reality. (BC)

Discusses the development of thinking from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how Super and Harkness' (1986) concept of "developmental niche" may be used as a framework for organizing cognitive developmental research in relation to culture. Argues for the utility of this approach in furthering understanding of the precise linkages between…

Three studies examined young children's understanding that, if one "remembers" or "forgets," one must have known something previously. The majority of four-year olds, but not three-year olds, understood that, when two characters currently knew something, the one with prior knowledge remembered and that, when neither character…

Five studies examined adults' responses to weight conservation questions which were constructed to give subjects a choice of two incorrect answers. The results showed that adults (1) acquiesced to the misleading implications of the questions; and (2) exhibited greater nonconservation in response to questions about the body than about external…

Describes outcomes of research into the ability to process and evaluate information about musical rhythm and pitch. Reports that the Pitch Rhythm Integration Measure (PRIM) is reliable and statistically the same across age groups. Concludes that there is a significant age-related increase in the importance of rhythm for novices' perceptual…

Cognitive apprenticeship involves modeling of a task by an expert, learner performance and reflection with coaching, internalizing, and generalizing. It is effective because knowledge is created and made meaningful by the context in which it is acquired. (SK)