Suggests that critical thinking (the ideological immune system) can prevent or inactivate virus-like ideas (ideas that can invade a host, damage the host, and cause the host to replicate and transmit the ideas--infecting other hosts and propagating the ideas). Proposes that critical thinking alleviates many mental health problems. (SKC)

Discusses critical thinking as the process of moving fluently among abstraction levels. Defines three components involved in fluency of movement: (1) knowledge, or an awareness of the existence of abstraction levels; (2) payoff, or the reason for acquiring fluency; and (3) timing, or a consciousness of abstraction levels at a given time and place.…

Describes five learning activities for practice of number facts which will aid problems with computation in arithmetic instruction. Stresses importance of elementary students' ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, rather than rely on calculators and computers, for higher levels of math. (DST)

Evaluates some possible reasons for the occurrence and eventual correction of children's naming errors in an experiment in which two-, four-, and six-year-olds learned two artificial object names in succession. (HOD)

Compares two types of semantic development (the acquisition of disappearance words and success-failure words) to performance on two types of cognitive tasks (object-permanence and means-ends tasks) among infants. (HOD)

The importance of understanding is stressed. Understanding the task is as vital as knowing the basic meaning. (MNS)

The article explores the development of children's understanding of causality, its effect on narrative development and organization; and the development of intentional, goal directed behavior. (Author/DB)

How multiplication is usually taught in school and how it could be taught are discussed. Development of understanding is illustrated through children's words and work. (MNS)

What research says about the learning and teaching of decimal fractions is summarized, with some instructional strategies and activities to improve learning suggested. (MNS)

This article addresses the difficulties associated with identifying and communicating about colors. Specific attention is devoted to the color red as it is symbolized in British and American cultures. Concludes that there is a great deal more to the learning of color than having students learn a vocabulary of color terms and designating correctly…

A model for division of fractions using money as manipulative material is presented. Eight levels are described, ranging from the development of language and concept introduction through types of problems to rule discovery and application. (MNS)

Euler's discovery about the centroid of a triangle trisecting the line segment joining its circumference to its orthocenter is discussed. An activity that will help students review fundamental concepts is included. (MNS)

Presents the design of a long-term project aimed at facilitating communication among social scientists in different countries by the production of a new kind of encyclopedia, called the INTERCOCTA Encyclopedia. The project does not attempt to standardize or legislate terminology. (JDH)

When two-, three-, four-, and five-year-olds were tested for knowledge of sex role stereotypes and preferences for sex-typed activities, boys' stereotype acquisition lagged behind preference development. Girls' data were ambiguous. Boys displayed equally strong tendencies to endorse same-sex activities; girls displayed a stronger tendency to…

Compares the Genevan and Cattell-Horn theories of intelligence and describes both similarities and differences. Describes a study investigating the relation of the Piagetian operative level to the child's ability to use crystallized solution procedures (aids) in making elementary numerical comparisons. (HOD)