Examines the use of reference by kindergartners and second graders in told, dictated, and written texts. Explains findings in terms of increasing precision in the use of anaphoric and situational reference by mode. (HOD)

Results of this study confirm discrimination of the intensive time-series design and indicate that it can be used to distinguish differences in learning (comprehension and knowledge) between eighth-grade earth science students (N=95) having formal cognitive tendencies and those having concrete cognitive tendencies. (JN)

Discusses the literature on children's early thinking about written symbols and offers suggestions for teachers seeking to extend that thinking. (FL)

Intelligence is here defined in terms of component processes, and three programs are reviewed that train aspects of intelligence as specified by this theory: Feuerstein's "Instrumental Enrichment," Lipman's "Philosophy for Children," and the "Chicago Mastery Learning" program. Central suggestions are provided for…

Comprehensive assessment in context focuses on the processes and structures involved in subject matter competence as moderated in performance by personal and environmental influences. This article addresses in detail both the nature of developing competence and its measurement in terms of context-dependent task performance. (Author/EGS)

A study comparing the effect of the Distar reading program and the Lippincott Basic Readers on the cognitive and creative development of 136 kindergarten and first grade children. The major difference between these two approaches is degree of teacher control. Only one significant difference was found between the two approaches. (MS)

The problem of how to provide at least one year of preschool education for all Slovene children led to the development of the Slovene "Little School." Positive results, using a School Beginners Test with 118 "Little School" children proved that even short preschool programs were beneficial. (JH)

Students' abstract reasoning abilities can differ from one society to another. Students' profiles play significant roles in these differences. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between middle school students' cognitive development levels and their profiles (age, gender, and science achievement) using the Science Cognitive…

Violence is increasingly present in Quebec schools. Our position is that we should invest in "primary" prevention of violence by helping preschool children develop cognitive competencies. One of the aspects of cognitive development explored in this text regards children's Social Representations (SR) of violence. Indeed, a number of…

The purpose of this study is to highlight literature concerning the effects of music therapy on children with disabilities. The paper is organized in the following sections: (1) background of music and children with disabilities, (2) the aims of music therapy, (3) main contributions to cognitive, biopsychosocial development of children with…

This paper will present evidence to support ontogenetic and phylogenetic parallels and draw from these comparisons to further illuminate our understanding of micro and macro human development. Individual and collective stages of physical, psychological and spiritual development will be compared and their homologous structures examined.…

Distributed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, this Spanish-language pamphlet provides parents with information and advice about their infants in the seventh month of life. Following a brief description of developmental characteristics at this age, the pamphlet offers advice on a variety of topics,…

The promotion of scientific literacy has become an important goal for science education, and the ability to negotiate socioscientific issues is at least one aspect of scientific literacy. This paper focuses on how the moral dimensions of socioscientific issues influence decision-making regarding these issues. Morality is examined from multiple…

This paper discusses some findings of research studies developed in Italy on the approach to theoretical knowledge. Two examples are discussed in detail: (1) a classroom discussion concerning the shift from an empirical to a theoretical compass in primary school (fifth grade); and (2) the scheme of a teaching experiment on overcoming conceptual…

This paper synthesizes explorations from two research projects with 3- and 4-year-olds in the areas of instrumental music-making and telephone discourse, sharing an approach to research with young children in which the adult participates in the child's activity and seeks to share the initiative. The interpretive, participatory approaches used are…