To determine the role that writing plays in personality and attitude change, a study was devised using the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) and teacher observations. High school students were asked to keep a journal and were given a time during the day to free write. Teachers were asked to identify those students who had developed great…

This report describes the results of an attempt to identify a learning hierarchy for each of a number of science concepts mainly encountered first in the high school grades. The concepts studied relate to stoichiometric calculations and molarity, both from chemistry; to food web relationships and problems involving Mendel's laws from biology; to…

This report presents the results of a study, based on 500 responses to a survey mailed to a structured sample of school administrators, on the problems and solutions of developing thinking and reasoning skills in the schools. Provided are analyses of the issue, examples of successful practices, and advice from school administrators and…

This study indicates several areas in which the contributions of Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky appear to substantiate Montessori theory and practice. Historical information concerning the emergence and accessibility of developmental and educational theory is also provided. The work identifies similarities and differences in the theorists' views of…

This paper describes a plan to improve school effectiveness in the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Public Schools by incorporating instruction in thinking skills. The program selected by the school district was the Strategic Reasoning Program, based on Albert Upton's Design for Thinking and J. P. Guilford's Structure of the Intellect. The Strategic Reasoning…

This report describes a project which targeted two-person teams of leadership-level personnel in special education and speech/language pathology for training in child language to serve severely handicapped non-verbal children. A "pyramid" training model was used and these primary trainees conducted additional training with teachers and clinicians…

This paper explores the thesis that advances in computer applications and artificial intelligence have important implications for the study of development and learning in psychology. Current approaches to the use of computers as devices for problem solving, reasoning, and thinking--i.e., expert systems and intelligent tutoring systems--are…

The manual presents an Individualized Education Program development guide for working with special education preschoolers. Goals, objectives, and activities are specified in six major areas: (1) speech and language skills (expressive skills, comprehension skills, imitation of non-speech vocalizations, sorting by category; (2) self help skills…

The role of questioning techniques in the classroom is discussed, with particular emphasis on the cyclical nature of teacher-student dialogues. Excerpts from transcripts of actual dialogues are also analyzed. According to the model, based on Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the questioning strategies are designed to enhance the student's…

A review of the literature on the development of children's abilities to comprehend and produce metaphorical language shows this development to be a continuous process rather than one characterized by stages, and to be constrained primarily by limitations in children's knowledge and information processing abilities. More specifically, the…

This project was designed to produce a program evaluation and needs assessment of the 1982 Alberta Elementary School Mathematics Program in terms of cognitive level comparisons between student responses and curricular demands. Assessment procedures consisted of 14 individual interviews and 8 paper-and-pencil tests based on children's responses to…

Four studies used the theoretically based understanding of comprehension developed by W. Kintsch and T. A. van Dijk to look for processes that might undergo development as a child becomes more practiced and skilled in reading so that an understanding of these processes might become the basis for reading remediation programs. The first three…

This paper discusses the meaning and formation of children's play in order to (1) deepen understanding and respect for what play is, (2) demonstrate how young children cannot thrive or survive without play, and (3) give a common framework for interpreting and deriving meaning from the play behavior that occurs in the daily lives of young children.…

Non-English speaking students of average intelligence experience extreme frustration when learning to read. The frustration is partly a result of simultaneous requirements to speak, read, listen, and write in the new language. It also is possible that the teaching methods and strategies employed by the teachers could be harmful to non-English…

This monograph consists of teaching guides for five junior novels: "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing"; "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"; "Across Five Aprils"; "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"; and "Harriet the Spy." Each unit is intended (1) to enhance the creative process; (2) to foster cognitive development at the concrete operational…