This study aimed to determine the primary school students' readiness for school and analyze it according to some socio-demographic characteristics. Readiness can be defined as having the necessary precondition behaviors and reaching the desired maturity level for the child to be able to learn and develop. The level of readiness of the child is…

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to examine the student-teacher relationship as a potential moderator of the link between executive functioning (EF) and children's early school readiness among a clinical sample of preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for the study included 139 preschool children…

Herman T. Epstein's hypothesis that the brain grows in five stages contradicts the conventional theory that growth is constant until approximately age 18. Epstein argues that the curriculum should be adapted to students' cognitive skills and that special attention should be given to the plateau stages in brain development. (WD)

A study of elementary school children revealed their awareness of skimming techniques and their ability to skim when explicitly instructed to do so. Spontaneous skimming was most clearly observed in 8th grade students, which indicated that the development of the use of skimming is an increasing integration of various pieces of knowledge. (JD)

This research extends the range of domains within which children's gestures are found to play an important role in learning. The study involves children learning about balance, and the authors locate children's gestures within a relevant model of cognitive development--the representational redescription model (A. Karmiloff-Smith, 1992). The speech…

Children's communicative competence is essential and predictive of their success in school. However, in England in recent years we have faced particular challenges inculcating this understanding into primary and early years teachers' practice. Furthermore, some studies have raised concerns about children's communicative competence on school entry.…

Reports the results of a study of five-year-olds, which indicate that social relationships are a facilitator of cognitive learning of reading readiness concepts and imaginativeness. Girls in the experimental treatments significantly outperformed the boys. (JD)

Examines influence of household income on cognitive stimulation during the transition to school. Cross-sectional and longitudinal fixed effects regressions are estimated to examine income's effect. Household income was positively related to level of cognitive stimulation in children's home environments across both sets of analyses. Implication for…

Examines arithmetic and algebra knowledge from a cognitive perspective in an effort to determine what constitutes a pre-algebraic level of understanding. Presents results of a longitudinal study designed to investigate students' readiness for algebra. Proposes a model for the transition from arithmetic to pre-algebra to algebra. Contains 29…

Japanese elementary school children were administered a series of trials in a paired-associate learning paradigm. It was shown that younger children learn foreign words faster than older children. (JB)

Reports on study of 80 elementary students in grades 3-6 to determine whether tempo perception and performance abilities increased with grade level and musical training. Finds that student performance and perceptions did increase with grade level and training. Concludes that modern technology has made research into tempo perception more precise…

Unproven beliefs about the process of reading and its instruction and about the effects of maturation and social structure on learning have obscured the question of what children know about how to read. An alternate conceptualization proposes that to learn to read children must obtain experience in three reading contexts: the use of print and its…

Children's learning of consumer economics concepts in two types of preschool teaching conditions was compared. Children in the Ausubelian program (high proportion of teacher-directed learning activities) achieved a significantly higher level of performance than did children in the Piagetian program (high proportion of child-directed activities.)…

Proposes that cognitive developmental stages can be accounted for in terms of information processing factors which limit the highest level of cognitive system which children can attain at any given age. Delineates four progressively more complex levels of cognitive mediation of the environment. Two experiments which support the developmental model…

Assessing readiness among young children today implies undertaking a broad range of observations and activities in an atmosphere where children can feel comfortable and interested. Until recently, readiness meant readiness for reading. A mental age of six and a half was accepted as the prerequisite for beginning reading instruction. There has…