This study is an attempt to identify social interactions which fit into a Piagetian model for cognitive change, and specifically to examine the degree to which the frequency of those interactions predicts the rate of cognitive development. The subjects were 74 elementary school children enrolled in 19 K-4 classrooms. These children were in the preoperational and transitional stages. In the preoperational stage, the child's thinking is centered about himself and his direct experiences and is geared to manipulate the world through action. In the transitional stage, the child engages in some problem solving rather than direct action. The children were administered a number of tests designed to examine cognitive and academic abilities. Concurrently, the social interactions of all children were sampled using a classroom observation instrument. The tests were readministered one year later. The results suggest that specific conflict producing interactions facilitate development from the preoperational and transitional levels of thought. Conflict producing interactions are defined as those in which a conversant infers the goal guiding the child's behavior and then challenges that goal by presenting a problem which requires concrete operational reasoning. In school classrooms, children provide virtually no conflict producing interactions for other children. This study has two implications: first, extensions of this approach to defining social interactions may allow for definitions of cultural and subcultural environments which fit with the Piagetian approach; and second, this approach has hinted as to what sorts of interactions are missing in classrooms. Whether these interactions do promote cognitive development needs further examination. (Author/JK)