Transescence is marked not only by disrupting acceleration in physical development and physiological change, but also by emotional and social pressures resulting from the transfer of authority from the family to the peer group. At no time in the schooling of our children do we find greater differences in the physical, social, emotional, and…

This booklet contains a speech on the value of discovery learning in building a sound knowledge base. The author contends that systematic concepts (such as spatial relations) should be fully explored by experimentation and discussion in the classroom. The cognitive processes involved in solving problems are examined and examples are given of…

The relationship between retention of story propositions and inferences was studied in two experiments on groups of children who averaged five and eight years in age. In the first experiment, the motives and theme of protagonists were varied and found to affect the number and kind of inferences made by eight-year-olds. The increase in the number…

A geographically-based, random sample of 62 children, balanced for child gender, and their mothers who met selection criteria were observed and interviewed to determine the correlates of rural children's mental development. It was hypothesized that rural children's intellectual development would be positively correlated with a number of ecological…

The relationship between children's knowledge of particular situations and their comprehension of stories about them was investigated. Children in kindergarten and grades two, four, and six heard stories about differentially familiar situations and then answered questions. "Scripts," characterizing knowledge about stereotypical events, were…

This study examined (1) the effects of onset of timing for early nonparental care patterns on later child development, and (2) the effects of length of daily enrollment in care on later cognitive attainment and socioemotional behaviors. Preschool teachers rated 105 middle-class children on the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ) and the…

This paper examines the needs of adolescent mothers and their infants and describes innovative programs designed to meet those needs. It discusses characteristics of adolescent mothers, including their educational level, their obstetric performance, their parenting practices, and the socioeconomic consequences of early parenthood. The paper then…

Using the book "Fostering Intellectual Development in Young Children" by Kenneth D. Wann and the book's impact on education as a point of departure, this paper presents a way of looking at the early childhood curriculum that goes beyond the book but is in keeping with its concerns for the education of young children. The book was a…

Several factors are eroding children's right to play. The first is continuing poverty throughout the world. This factor is evident in underdeveloped countries and the inner cities of industrialized countries. Changing cultural values are a second factor in developed societies where indifference toward the importance of play is prevalent. The many…

In order to construct a plan drawing test for emotionally disturbed children, 1,250 children from 6 to 15 years old were asked to draw plans of their houses. Forty items in this cross-sectional sample illustrate a regular and rapid increase with age from the purely vertical pictures of houses at 6 years to the mainly horizontal representations at…

The findings of this study indicated that children's capacity to comprehend television advertising is primarily a developmental phenomenon, although social and experiential factors may have a moderate positive and a minor negative influence, respectively. Research subjects were 289 elementary school boys of first, third, and fifth grade levels,…

Stochastic difference equations of the Box-Jenkins form provide an adequate family of models on which to base the stochastic theory of human growth processes, but conventional time series identification methods do not apply to available data sets. A method to identify structure and parameters of stochastic difference equation models of human…

Infants judged to be at risk for subnormal intellectual growth were randomly assigned to an experimental (N=27) or a control (N=25) group. Infants in both groups received medical care and dietary supplements; their families received social work services on a request basis. Experimental children participated in an educational day care program…

This paper reviews theoretical writings on the importance and function of imaginative play in the development of young children, and describes measurement instruments and instructional aids used for imaginative play in home and school settings. A historical summary of the function of play in the young child's life is presented. Early theories saw…

The increase in one child families in the 1980's is analogous to the one child family rate during the Depression years. Although family size was limited for economic reasons during the Depression, current increases in the number of one child families are attributed to advances in contraceptive technology, increased employment of women, inhibiting…