Prior research suggests that human children lack an aptitude for tool innovation. However, children's tool making must be explored across a broader range of tasks and across diverse cultural contexts before we can conclude that they are genuinely poor tool innovators. To this end, we investigated children's ability to independently construct 3 new…

This integrative text spotlights what educators need to know about children's cognitive development across grade levels (PreK-12) and content areas. The book provides a concise introduction to developmental neuroscience and theories of learning. Chapters on general cognitive abilities probe such crucial questions as what children are capable of…

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" was published and its…

The role of the imagination in adult thinking is to go beyond reality and to express generalised laws. The researcher's job is to specify the cultural tools that preschool children use in the development of their imagination. Previous research has identified two main stages in the development of imagination up until the age of six, a third stage…

Highly readable and comprehensive, this volume explores the significance of friendship for social, emotional, and cognitive development from early childhood through adolescence. The authors trace how friendships change as children age and what specific functions these relationships play in promoting adjustment and well-being. Compelling topics…

Across two studies, a wide age range of participants was interviewed about the nature of death. All participants were living in rural Madagascar in a community where ancestral beliefs and practices are widespread. In Study 1, children (8-17 years) and adults (19-71 years) were asked whether bodily and mental processes continue after death. The…

Contains the following commentaries: "Further Distinctions between Magic, Reality, Religion, and Fiction"; "The Role of Creative Control and Culture in Children's Fantasy/Reality Judgments"; "The Last of the Magicians? Children, Scientists, and the Invocation of Hidden Causal Powers"; "Rescuing Magical Thinking…

Responds to some of the specific criticisms of commentators, focusing on highlighting and exploring the themes of the role of culture, how adults characterize children, the meaning of the word "real," the importance of looking at adult literature, the role of process and content, placing a value on magical thinking, and similarities and…

How do people whose identities appear so deeply connected to the land they love engage in environmentally harmful activities? This paper explores this question, presenting selected research on children's moral relationships with nature and examining the boundaries of the moral domain to more precisely delineate relations between moral constructs.…

An extensive literature review of the cross-cultural generalizability of the concepts derived from differentiation theory which focuses on the major proposition of the theory and its primary empirical expectations. Studies conducted in other cultural settings which were either guided by the theory or sought to evaluate it are discussed and…

This study compared the performance of 300 Chinese children on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-Revised (BTBC-R) with that of American children from the standardization sample of the BTBC-R. Subjects were in kindergarten, first, and second grade, and completed the test at the end of the 1996-97 school year. The focus of the comparison was to…

This study examines the interactive roles of social, cultural, and cognitive developmental factors in determining children's moral and achievement judgments. A total of 1485 male and female Iranian children/students of diverse social background (ranging in age from 4-18) served as subjects. Subjects were asked to evaluate (reward/punishment) the…

Examines cognitive processing and semantic influences on the developmental patterning of everyday social explanation in a cross-cultural investigation undertaken among American and Hindu adults and children (ages 8, 11, and 15). (HOD)

Investigates (1) the relationships between cognitive performance and cognitive styles and predictive possibilities and (2) performance differences by sex, school, grade, and income in 92 Indian adolescents. Assessment measures included Liquid Conservation, Islands, Goat-Lion, Hanoi-Tower, Rabbits (Piagetian); Block Design (WISC-R); Paper Cutting…

Reviews studies of children's and adolescents' understanding of peace and war. Maintains that findings are influenced by measurement procedures and design and by a number of variables. Notes that recent studies suggest a relationship between understanding of interpersonal relationships and understanding of peace. Other variables such as social…