Critical thinking is a cognitive skill that can be directly developed by specific practices and strategies. Creating a classroom environment that supports and nurtures critical thinking should be a consideration of vocational agriculture instructors and teacher educators. (JOW)

Finds that the usual adult superiority in speed of processing could be markedly reduced if children were given equivalent amounts of domain knowledge. The effect was domain specific; differences in knowledge affected processing rates in both knowledgeable adults and children to about the same extent. (Auther/RH)

Investigated the criterion-related validity of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory (MCDI) for 30-month-old children (N=122). Results showed that MCDI scales correlated with cognitive but not motor development as measured by the McCarthy scales. The MCDI accurately identified children performing below normal in general cognitive development.…

From a statistical methodological standpoint, criticizes research by Hicks, Langham, and Takenaka, which found significant differences in behavioral and intelligence measures between children with different time periods of participation in the National Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. (GC)

Three children were observed in their homes approximately once a month for one year, from their 11th through 22nd month of life. Based on observation of the children's changing nonverbal behaviors, a five-level developmental sequence documenting the evolution of the cognitive notion of agent was developed. (Author)

Discusses early entrance to kindergarten on the basis of whether a child's success in school can be reasonably predicted. Provides an early entrance procedure. (FL)

Analyzes and considers two problems in Bertrand Russell's account of growth. Examines the principles of freedom and reverence which Russell believed best enhanced free growth. Shows that, while Russell's theory of growth is imprecise compared to those of Dewey and Whitehead, it incorporates a humanistic conception of the individual. (DAB)

Gaming (the use of formal games for specific academic purposes) is a method for teaching formal thinking processes that is particularly suited to the gifted student. Various games can be used to develop deductive reasoning, the concept of subsets, inductive reasoning, and attention to detail. (Author/SW)

Challenges assumptions made by Sigel that change is a measure of progress, that Piaget's theory was a major factor in the "cognitive revolution," and that cognitive psychology and behaviorism are necessarily opposing positions. (Author/RH)

Sigel replies that Kendler's reactions to his article appear more appropriate to psychology as a field rather than to developmental psychology, in particular, since the 1970s. (Author)

Compares developmental changes in the processing of subordinate/superordinate relationships across perceptual and nonperceptual categories. Perceptual categories contained visually similar exemplars, while nonperceptual categories contained dissimilar exemplars. Second, fifth, and eleventh graders, as well as mentally retarded adolescents,…