As a background to the present research, preliminary discussion is focused on Piaget's formulation of moral development in the child and recent investigations based on that formulation. The objective of this research was to assess the interrelationships between level of moral judgment maturity and several other sectors of development. A moral…

This document contains nine research abstracts and five progress reports of projects, complete and incomplete, initiated in 1967-1968 by the Michigan State University Head Start and Evaluation Center. The table of contents lists 14 projects under two subheadings (1) Research Abstracts, 1967-1968 Report, and (2) Progress Reports, 1967-1968 Research…

In a study conducted at the University of Alberta, an attempt was made to use Piagetian-type observations as an assessment of intellectual capacities and to determine whether learning a second language at an early age has beneficial or detrimental effects on cognitive functioning. For this purpose an 18-question test dealing with conservation…

This research focuses on the effect of verbal behavior on the conditioning and extinction of an autonomic response, namely, the galvanic skin response (GSR). The major assumption is that the experimentor's verbal behavior produces verbal behavior internal to the subject, and this, in turn has a modifying effect on the conditioning phenomena. The…

In this study, one hundred 3- to 5-year-olds were selected for reading instruction during regular 12- to 30-minute periods for 4 to 6 months. The program was ordered to establish a high level of sustained daily control over the attentional and motivational processes of the children. Learning tasks were designed to facilitate the child's grasp of…

To investigate the efficacy of a training procedure designed to facilitate the attainment of the mathematical concept of number conservation, 43 children from grades 1 and 2 were tested for their ability to conserve. Some of the pupils were found to be nonconservers; some, transitional conservers; and some, conservers. Pupils of the first two…

Thirty-one 4-year-old Negro boys attending a research preschool in Chicago were observed during a play session. Preliminary evaluation of the data from the observations indicated a marked heterogeneity in the subjects with regard to verbal facility, cognitive development, and quality and nature of object relationships. Poor correlation was found…

A discussion of the role of affective factors in reading within the framework of the substrata factor theory is presented. The substrata factor theory and theories of the intellect are briefly discussed, and the absence of affective factors in these theories is pointed out. These affective factors are seen as influential in the individual's…

Specific instruction refers to the teacher's knowing (a) what to teach and when, (b) what not to teach and why, and (c) when to let the preoperational child be "wrong." This paper is in agreement with Bereiter's criticism of Kohlberg's conclusion against specific instruction but suggests that Bereiter's argument should be developed into…

In order to study the influence of the information-processing strategy of an adult model on the subsequent strategy of children, 216 grade school children solved modified twenty-questions problems. A repeated-measures factorial design was used with the following variables: (1) information-processing of model (hypothesis scanning, constraint…

The APPROACH (A Procedure for Patterning Responses of Adults and Children) technique was used to code observations of behavior and setting in this ecological study of adult-child cognitive communication patterns. The subjects observed were 32 children who proportionately represented each of four age groups (1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years)…

This document contains the three papers that comprised the Head Start Research Seminar No. 5 on Intervention in Family Life. The main thrust of this seminar is the investigation of family and parent characteristics that influence the academic performance of young children. Robert Hess, in the opening paper, summarizes the information available on…

In this study, representational thought, which involves the child's ability to function in terms of nonpresent reality, is viewed within a cognitive-developmental framework. To see if disadvantaged children would function in the same way as advantaged children on tasks which required representational thought rather than verbalization, children…

In order to investigate diffusion effects within families involved in an intervention program, 80 disadvantaged children were divided into four groups, three of which were made up of younger siblings of preschool children in the intervention program. In two of these three groups, the mother was also involved in the program. The fourth group was…

After opening with a 13-page review of the literature, the document's main emphasis is on the three experiments included in this report. The specific rationale, procedures, and results of the three studies comprise the major portion of the document. The general purpose of Experiment 1 was to ascertain the effects of prior relevant subject matter…