The present study examines 5- to 8-year-old children's relation reasoning in solving matrix completion tasks. This study incorporates a componential analysis, an eye-tracking method, and a microgenetic approach, which together allow an investigation of the cognitive processing strategies involved in the development and learning of children's…

By 3 years of age, children can solve tasks involving physical principles such as locating a ball that rolled down a ramp behind an occluder by the position of a partially visible solid wall (Berthier, DeBlois, Poirer, Novak, & Clifton, 2000; Hood, Carey, & Prasada, 2000). However, the extent to which children use physical information (the…

The purpose of this study was to examine child-level pathways in development of prealgebraic knowledge versus word-problem solving, while evaluating the contribution of calculation accuracy and fluency as mediators of foundational skills/processes. Children (n = 962; mean 7.60 years) were assessed on general cognitive processes and early…

The present study involved 120 kindergartners, of whom n = 60 were followed up to first grade. Upon making inquiries regarding closeness in teacher-child relationships in the classrooms, the children participated in a laboratory situation in which they were exposed to computerized tasks. These tasks challenged the cognitive processes thought to…

Previous studies have found that children have difficulty solving proportional reasoning problems involving discrete units until 10 to 12 years of age, but can solve parallel problems involving continuous quantities by 6 years of age. The present studies examine where children go wrong in processing proportions that involve discrete quantities. A…

Responds to W. Frawley's and J. Lantolf's comments on the Frauenglass and Diaz study concerning the interaction between private speech and cognition. Argues that Vygotsky's theory predicts a positive effect on children's problem solving activity. (HOD)

This study suggests a fifth Piagetian stage and offers empirical evidence in its support. Piaget's traditional fourth stage (formal operations) is operationally defined as the problem-solving stage and the suggested fifth stage as the problem-finding stage. The commonly accepted criteria for a stage model are applied. (JMB)

When comparing rows of dots in length or number, some children used number strategies and some length strategies. After training to correct missed items, errors were made on previously correct items. These findings are interpreted with reference to the distinction between having a dimensional strategy and attaching it to appropriate situations.…

Reports four experiments focusing on Piaget's claims that conservation and transitivity concepts are experienced as logically necessary truths. Two experiments examined feelings of certainty and necessity in college students presented with Piagetian tasks. Two other experiments extended these procedures to children and the issue of developmental…

Reflective subjects generated characteristically different and more efficient hypothesis-testing strategies than impulsive subjects. (Author)

A sample of 86 college students aged 18 to 35 years of age were asked to solve three formal operations tasks and to participate in a problem-finding task. No relation was found between performance on problem-finding and the formal operations task. (JMB)

Surface and relational similarity were examined in two experiments involving isomorphic and nonisomorphic analogical transfer, using direct-mapping and cross-mapping conditions. In the first experiment, third and sixth graders exhibited mapping based on relational similarity more frequently than did kindergartners; in the second, most four- to…

Two experiments studied preschool children's ability to infer numerosity from correspondence between two sets. Found that children were able to make inferences as early as three years of age. However, differences between the two conditions suggest production deficiencies in young children's use of counting as a problem-solving strategy when they…