This study explores the acquisition of proportionality by investigating the relationship between an understanding of proportionality and the development of cognitive structure in the domain of mechanics. (Author/MA)

Piagetian tasks varying in complexity were administered to elementary school children in grades K-3. Differences between the attainment of similar concepts occurred when the tasks required different types of inference patterns, had different goals, or involved different percepts. Discusses curriculum implications. (AL)

Hypothesized that instructional methods employing concrete models and exemplars of a concept will lead to better student understanding at both the concrete and formal operational levels of cognitive development. However, concrete operational students did not profit from the instructional methods and results were not clear for early formal…

This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of one semester's instruction in science and mathematics, using an inquiry-based methodology, in facilitating cognitive growth in first year college students. Results indicated the inquiry approach did not promote cognitive growth in comparison with a more didactic or expository teaching…

Students who viewed demonstrations or manipulated apparatus understood the relational concepts (of the form a/b = a'/b') of speed, force, and work better than a control group, but did not differ significantly from each other. (AL)

Describes an empirical method of developing learning hierarchies by comparing success on each tested behavior with all other behaviors. Advantages, compared with validation of a particular logical hierarchy, are illustrated by application of density principles to prediction of flotation. (AL)

This commentary refers to a recent paper (1975) by Sayer and Ball in this journal concerning the relationships between formal operational thought and science achievement, and requests additional information on the representativeness of the sample and the performance of boys and girls on the Piagetian tasks. The requested information is provided.…

Points out the fact that Piaget's objections to tests as ways of identifying cognitive structures and processes have been largely ignored in most of the replication studies conducted by English and American psychologists. (PEB)

Thirteen to fifteen year-old students from Denmark, Sweden, Italy, United States, Austria, Germany, and Great Britain were the subjects on this study of formal thought processes. Socioeconomic status, sex, and school organization provided additional categorization upon which the subjects were divided. Chi square analysis revealed some differences.…

Speed and acceleration tasks were administered to children in grades three through six. Piaget's results were replicated. Suggestions concerning the appropriate grade level to introduce different types of motion tasks are made. (AL)

Reviews Piaget's theory of cognitive development and discusses how science concepts can be taught to secondary school students at different cognitive levels. (MLH)

A pretest-posttest research design was used with 104 first-grade children to determine if discrimination and classifactory activities would affect transition from preoperational to concrete stages. Findings showed the experimental group exhibited significantly greater transition than did the control group. (CP)

Constructed response and multiple choice modes of programed instruction were compared. Both formats enhanced classification performance; the effect was greatest when the criterion test was in the same mode as the instruction. (AL)

Explored the development of hierarchical classification and the age at which this ability appears fully developed. Two measures of hierarchical classification ability were administered to primary, elementary, junior high and high school students. Discusses results which support Piaget's contention that this ability is not developed until late…

Examines the attainment of Piagetian topological concepts in 100 kindergarten to second graders. Findings reveal a hierarchial pattern of attainment, but one that differs from Piaget's research. Significant differences are found for task performance and grade level but not for task performance and gender. (CP)