Human movement plays a foundational role in cognition and learning. This topical collection brings together theoretical and empirical work examining how gestures, physical activity, and virtual movement enhance learning in language, multimedia, and activity-based learning. Regarding language learning, interacting with virtual object improves…

This review article starts with an overview of changing education paradigms and the literature on cognitive and linguistic relationships in imaginative play related to comprehension of oral and written texts. Strategies for developing the cognitive and linguistic foundations for text comprehension through play are described. A review of current…

Viewing language acquisition as the product of a biased learner who takes advantage of the information available from a variety of sources in his or her environment, this book provides a new way of thinking about the process of language comprehension. The analysis in the book borrows insights from theories about the development of mental models,…

Research on young children and their understanding and use of models indicates that they have particular difficulty understanding and using symbols that are in themselves interesting objects (have dual representation). Implications for the use of symbols for educational purposes are discussed, reviewing several commonly used symbolic objects. (SLD)

Finds that, between five and seven years of age, the majority of healthy children in modern urban-industrial societies achieve an understanding of the irreversibility, nonfunctionality, and universality of death. Suggests reasons for ambiguous findings concerning the relationship between the acquisition of the concept of death and developmental…

Reviews Gibson's contributions to the domain of perceptual learning, including her classic experiment concerning the perception of scribbles. Discusses Gibson's research on differentiation and the links between perception and learning, the status of her research and ideas, and her experimental approach. (BG)

Reviews research on aspects of metacognition in children's comprehension of television, particularly how skills in meta-memory, meta-attention, and meta-social cognition-correlate with comprehension. (PD)

Research has uncovered the underlying processes of reading. Research on three of these processes is reviewed: (1) elucidating a general model of reading; (2) developing word recognition accuracy and efficiency; and (3) improving comprehension through the training of text processing and through enhancement of vocabulary and background knowledge.…

Assesses the hazards of models of cognitive development and the positivist views of language that support them. Considers how alternative views of language and learning can help develop a method of teaching that views reading and writing as interpretation and the making of meaning. (RBW)

Purposes a semiotic model for analyzing messages of the cinematic medium in film and television, and demonstrates its applicability to the study of children's comprehension of these messages. Highlights include the effects of visual and temporal features on comprehension; film and photography; and cognitive-developmental factors in comprehension.…

Intended as a chapter in "Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology," this paper provides an overview and interpretation of the work already completed on children's learning, remembering, and understanding with a major concentration on academic cognition. The first part of the paper provides a brief overview of the principal trends of the 1970s and…

Examines two prominent positions in the epistemological foundations of psychology--Piaget's causal explanatory claims and Vygotsky's interpretive understanding; contends that they need to be placed in their wider philosophical contexts. Argues that the danger of causally explaining cultural practices through which human beings construct and…

Critically reviews research on effects of cartoon violence on children's moral understanding and behavior to enable early childhood educators and parents to make informed decisions about what constitutes potentially harmful television viewing. Focuses on preschoolers' limited comprehension of television content and relatively sophisticated moral…

Graphical representations of geometrical objects from high school textbooks are categorized according to the implicit conventions underlying their display. The fact that specific illustrations can lead to students' misconceptions about geometric objects is analyzed in relationship to the principle of parallel projection with implications for the…

Examines three approaches to fostering higher level thinking in students: (1) the stand-alone approach; (2) the embedding approach; and (3) the immersion approach. The first two approaches teach thinking skills separately from or in the context of subject matter content; the immersion approach assigns an active role to perception and downplays…