Proposes a theoretical model of cognitive development and applies this model to the secondary analysis of two large-scale studies which focus on the acquisition of formal operational schemata by adolescents in the United States and Israel. Results support the "unity" hypothesis of cognitive development that the various schemata of formal…

Previous investigations on Piagetian cognitive levels among college students both within and across academic disciplines have not addressed the issue of possible differences in cognitive levels between traditional undergraduates and older returning students. Piagetian cognitive levels were studied among traditional- and nontraditional-age college…

Twenty-nine children with learning disabilities (LD) in grades 2 and 4 through 7 were compared with children without LD for their development of proportional structures of thought. Significantly fewer children with LD had constructed second-order logical structures necessary to act on problems using multiplicative and preproportional reasoning.…

This article presents evidence of the reliability and validity of a new paper-and-pencil test of proportional reasoning, Paper-and-Pencil Balance Beam Test. A Total of 627 individuals, aged 8-47, participated in the 3 studies discussed. Results support previous research which correlates performance on proportional reasoning problems with…

Investigated the relationship between the development of formal operations and the formation of ego identity in adolescence. Obtained significant positive correlations between combinatorial ability and degree of identity, suggesting that high identity may facilitate the application of combinatorial operations. Found some gender differences in task…

W. M. Gray's "How is Your Logic?" a Piagetian-based, group-administered written test of cognitive development, and B. Leadbeater's Livian Wars Task, a formal operations-based, written, social-cognition problem were given to 348 college undergraduate and graduate students to investigate the impact of chronological age and amount of formal…

A common concern raised by teachers from secondary schools and junior colleges in Singapore is the apparent inability or reluctance of adolescents to think critically and originally. Adolescent thought processes are probably shaped by the change in intellectual pace and quality between the primary and secondary school curriculum. This study of…