Describes qualitative aspects of explicit and less explicit explanations of cognitive reasoning processes associated with mathematical problem solving strategies. Includes lesson excerpts to illustrate three major differences between explicit and less explicit explanations. (MG)

Reviews current issues in child language acquisition and suggests a research agenda for helping those children who have difficulty mastering the fundamentals of language. (Author/BJV)

Identifies the cognitive skills necessary for children to accurately comprehend projective size on television. Traces the acquisition of these skills and identifies the role of media experience in facilitating comprehension by assessing the extent to which different types of television fare require the use of different cognitive skills. (MS)

Challenges the assumptions behind discipline-based art education. Defends studio art as educationally sound relative to learning theory and characterizes it as the best defense against the exclusion of art from the curriculum. Recommends studio art as a means for balancing curriculum already skewed toward analytically abstract teaching…

A number of studies conducted during the last decade have found that students' achievement increases when teaching methods match their learning styles--biological and developmental characteristics that affect how they learn. Correlational studies and experimental research studies are reviewed on instructional environments, perceptual preferences,…

Documents the patterns of coherence and persistence in energy conceptions. Describes the derivation of the Interview Vee technique and the procedure for putting an interview on the Vee. Discusses the production of Vee maps to help understand childrens' learning of concepts. (CW)

Reviewed are studies dealing with cognitive learning in the environment, investigating the advantages of field instruction for the purposes of concept and content learning. Biological and earth sciences are emphasized because instruction in these areas often focus on the environment. (CW)

An auditory inspection time (AIT) test, pitch discrimination tests, and verbal and non-verbal mental ability tests were administered to 59 undergraduates and 119 12-year-old school children. Results indicate that AIT correlations with intelligence are due to AIT being an index of information intake speeds. (TJH)

Two experiments examined the development of children's memory for spatial location or color. Results refuted the proposal that in contrast to color, spatial location would not show developmental improvement because it is remembered automatically. Suggests that, for the age range studied, there was developmental change in the efficiency of…

Investigated development of working memory in the transitional period from infancy to preschool years. The age-related increase in scores on the Imitation Sorting Task (IST) appeared to be about one unit every six months. Results suggest that the IST has a good construct validity. (AA)

Presents the results of three studies examining children's conception of the mind itself as an independent, active entity. Findings revealed a developing ability in children to interpret and produce statements personifying the mind and provided considerable evidence of children's movement toward a conception of the mind as an active agent…

A review of the research on dramatic play indicates that it provides personal expression and catharsis of inner desires; helps the child to distinguish between reality and fantasy; provides for children's social adaptation; provides a dynamic for learning; and enhances creativity through interaction, transformation, and imagination. (TJQ)

Examines private sign in preschoolers with hearing loss who are rated most and least advanced in literacy development. Teachers and parents/primary caregivers were surveyed to collect data on the use of private sign in these two groups. The majority of children with signing skills exhibited private sign in classroom and home contexts. (37…

Reviews research assessing the mother's contribution to children's early symbolic play competence, focusing on children ages 12-36 months. Finds that, as with other family members, mothers can encourage pretend play, but perhaps there is no special maternal role in the process. The quality and quantity of sophisticated play might be affected by…

Compares expert-/novice-based problem-solving behaviors with a Geographic Information Systems program. Uses naturalistic methods to analyze problem-solving strategies for occurrence of thematic elements. Reports that experts relied on logical formulations to query the database while novices used trial-and-error methods and midlevel cognitive…