This study examines the contexts of cultural interaction and the development of cognition and language among language minority children who brokered for their limited-English-speaking parents. Nine subjects who brokered for their parents as children were interviewed to determine the effects of brokering. (JL)

Annotates 16 World Wide Web (WWW) sites dealing with math and science education matters covered in feature articles for this journal issue. Topics include math fairs, classroom restructuring, and hands-on science. (JW)

Relates how children's everyday experience can revolve around a common object, in this case, a large hole dug outside their early childhood classroom. Describes how the hole captivated student interest and became the focus of much of their thought and writing, thus facilitating language skill development. (JW)

Describes the transformation of research on cognition and culture from cross-cultural comparisons of psychological tasks to theory and research on people's thinking in sociocultural activities. Recent developments in sociocultural theories and research over the past three decades are summarized, and theoretical and research commonalities that are…

Reviews "The Epigenesis of Mind: Essays on Biology and Cognition" (S. Carey and R. Gelman, editors), a collection of essays that present a hard-scientific vision of cognitive development. Examines the arguments this work articulates and then determines the place it occupies in the analysis of the state of developmental psychology as presented in…

Compared parental perceptions of the use of internal information sources--intuitions, religious beliefs, personal childhood experiences--to use of external sources for information about their toddlers' development. Found that parents perceived the internal sources as being used more frequently and as more useful for information on their child's…

Studied children's transitive inference where representation of premises provided contradictory information depending on position of two elements in a A, B, C series. Eight-year olds did significantly better on the more complex problems than did six-year olds, suggesting the presence of a developmental sequence of algorithms that enable children…

After noting the characteristics of good thinking, uses case studies to explain the development of thinking from infants to adults. Outlines strategies that do and do not work in developing children's cognitive abilities. Recommends several children's books that foster the development of thinking skills. (BC)

This article argues for the inclusion of narrative literature in college social science courses, since such literature can enhance students' understanding of scientific content by elucidating theoretical and empirical concepts with concrete examples. Evidence of the effectiveness of autobiographical literature is presented, and suggestions for…

Illustrates some of the analytic tools and conventions associated with the construction and evaluation of dynamic models of the processes underlying learning, memory, and development. Describes a study finding that children may exhibit slower disintegration of verbatim memory traces than adults due to interference; however, adults may be more…

Reviews efforts to develop mathematical models in developmental psychology. Explores recent developments in using dynamical systems for modeling human psychological processes. Comments on the studies described in this journal issue on dynamic modeling of cognitive development. Suggests that using this framework holds great promise for clarifying…

Studied effects of an interactive book-reading program with children attending day-care centers whose language development was delayed by 10 months. Children were read to by teachers and parents; read to by parents only; or in a control group. Educationally and statistically significant effects of the reading intervention were found at posttest…

Demonstrates that giving nursery school children opportunity to talk to the teacher while involved in physical activity enhances learning. Shows that talk enable understanding of the activity engaged in, as well as coherent and fluent expression of ideas and increased mastery of vocabulary. Identifies the teacher's roles as listener, questioner,…

Discusses children's design of mathematical representations on paper. Suggests that the design of displays during problem solving shapes one's mathematical activity and sense making in crucial ways, and that knowledge of mathematical representations is not simply recalled and applied to problem solving, but also emerges out of one's interactions…

Reviews four books: (1) "A Dynamic Systems Approach to Development: Applications" (Linda B. Smith and Esther Thelen, Eds.); (2) "The Psychology of Gender" (Anne E. Beall and Robert J. Sternberg, Eds.); (3) "Children's Understanding: The Development of Mental Models" (Graeme S. Halford); and (4) "Adolescent Storm…