This monograph reports the proceedings of a symposium that considered issues in the use of learning hierarchies in both psychological and educational research. The opening paper presents a brief overview of research on learning hierarchies. Issues considered include the use of behavior analysis as a basis for generating hierarchies, the extent to…

This paper provides for the elementary school teacher an introduction to the problem of mathematics readiness. The first part outlines the four developmental stages as seen by Piaget, and the manner in which schemata develop through the process of assimilation and accommodation. The second part consists of seven Piagetian tasks which a teacher may…

The "enrichment" and the "instruction" orientations are compared with respect to views on readiness, expectations for children, the "whole child" concept, and the concept of teacher role. (Author/MLF)

Details Piaget's four stages in the cognitive development of children--the sensorimotor period, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage--and discusses their implications for the planning and design of programs for instructional television, and possible effects on mental development and the cognitive…

This is the author's personal document in which he tries to simply see what learning is about. He draws heavily on Fritz Heider for his phenomenological analysis, by which he means an analysis of learning based solidly and integrally on what can be simply seen by all men. The paper distinguishes a learning process found in the developing child,…

While many contemporary developmental theorists have avoided taking a stand on the controversial relationship between learning and development, this paper is based on the belief that the notion of "bandwidth of competence," or L. S. Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development," provides a useful framework for considering this…

Since the world has been transformed through technology and global competition, children of the twenty-first century need much higher literacy and mathematical skills than their grandparents. Yet, at the same time, children need time to play and time to develop at a natural pace. In this article, the author shares and explains "triangulated…

The purpose of this study was to collect data from which the cognitive processes of the prekindergarten child could be analyzed. The study population consisted of 53 subjects, 3-1/2-4-1/2 years old. Kindergarten Evaluation of Learning Potential (KELP) was used to obtain data. The learning theory on which KELP is based postulates associative,…

Cognitive developmental learning is a concept expressing the hypothesis that learning has a continuing, cumulative, and transformational function in the development of intelligence. Two important questions are, "How much do we know about methods?" and "What classes of knowledge and abilities should we develop?" An analysis of past investigations,…

This paper examines the educational philosophy underlying Waldorf Education, focusing on Rudolf Steiner's concept of "vital" or etheric energy and comparing Piaget's and Steiner's stages of cognition. The paper begins with a discussion of school readiness and the trend toward lowering the school entry age, and maintains that this trend…