Suggests ways puppets can be used to foster young children's problem solving abilities. (CM)

If developmental psychologists were asked to nominate the most exciting, cutting-edge research area in the field's recent history, many would vote for the area popularly known as theory-of-mind development, the childhood acquisition of everyday, common-sense knowledge and beliefs about the mental world. This article deals with several research…

Discusses how one's conception of intelligence and its development profoundly affects the formulation of educational objectives. A mechanistic conception of intelligence leads to the definition of objectives as a collection of fragmented "cognitive skills", while a Piagetian conception attempts to develop children's intelligence as an…

Highlights Paley's contributions, particularly her work in developing the vision of the narrative classroom. This vision includes using a combination of acting, writing, and directing to get children to work together and develop ideas in small settings. Paley's methods and insights illustrate these concepts and classroom life in an important way…

Refers to classification skills as preludes" to concept attainment. (Author)

Discusses theory and research that explore the nature of cooperative problem solving and its relationship to learning and development. Offers teaching guidelines that early childhood educators can use to encourage children to interact. (BB)

Reviews selected research on children's early formation of categories. Finds sophistication in how children group objects and think about those groupings. Notes findings related to type of grouping (thematic or taxonomic), multiple classifications, overgeneralization, the role of background knowledge on classification abilities, the…