It is urgent that we re-examine models of knowledge and knowledge-making within the university, at this time of open learning and deregulated multi-million dollar and euro open science hubs and portals. For otherwise, we are bound into "crude" instrumentalism, "delivering" "knowledge packets" rather than seeing our…

Presents a short biography of one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology (2012). Thomas L. Griffiths won the award for bringing mathematical precision to the deepest questions in human learning, reasoning, and concept formation. In his pioneering work,…

The international trend to increase the cognitive achievement of early childhood children has generated a need for better understanding how concept formation occurs within play-based programs. Yet the theories of play for supporting early childhood professionals were originally not conceptualized with this need in mind. In this article, concepts…

The authors explore how children's play can support the development of the foundations of mathematics learning and how adults can support children's representation of--and thus the "mathematization" of--their play. The authors review research about the amount and nature of mathematics found in the free play of children. They briefly…

Explores the dissociation between the performance by children with autism on false belief tasks, on which they do poorly, and false photograph, false map, and false drawing tasks, on which they do well. Suggesting domain specificity in the development of representational system, the results supported the modularity of theory of mind and the…

Examines the misconceptions of children as indicative of imaginative and perceptive thinking. Anecdotes that illustrate the split between realist and relationalist thinking, and the confusion between fact and metaphor are presented as citations from literary works. (BC)

Author suggests that variations in the functioning of imagination result in variations in mental aptitudes and expressions and expressions, and these variations serve as a guide, according to which the scope of an individual mind may be recognized. (Author/RK)

Examined 6-, 9-, and 14-year-olds' imagination of the unknown within a storytelling context. Performed phenomenological analysis of the two youngest groups' drawings and the oldest group's story on the "heffalump" theme. Derived eight categories providing an image-analysis of the concept of the "unknown" structured as "something-otherwise," that…

Presents a framework within which to organize and synthesize existing knowledge about children's understanding of the mental states of imagination, pretense, and dreams. Concludes that by the age of three, children understand important fundamental aspects of the mental nature, origin, and truth-relation of fictional mental states, but that their…

AN INVESTIGATION WAS UNDERTAKEN TO EXPLORE THE INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF JEAN PIAGET'S POSITION ON EQUILIBRATION. ONE PURPOSE WAS TO TEST THE GENERAL HYPOTHESIS THAT THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF CHILDREN, WHEN DISPLACED BY EVIDENCE CONTRARY TO THE MISCONCEPTIONS, GIVE RISE TO COGNITIVE CONFLICTS. THE RESULTS, IN GENERAL, CONFIRM THIS HYPOTHESIS. A…

Extends William James' classification of phenomenalistic reality (PR) and analyzes PR using empirical data available in developmental psychology; focuses on the relation of PR to a human subject; to rational constructions; and to the idea of truth. Concludes that the development of phenomenalistic reality is qualitatively different from the…

Children's magical explanations and beliefs were investigated in two studies. Found that many four-year olds view magic as a plausible mechanism, yet reserve magical explanations for certain real world events that violate their causal expectations. Parents and culture at large may at first actively support magical beliefs whereas peers and schools…

The case for the inclusion of aesthetic education with the traditional basic courses of reading, writing, and arithmetic is examined. The following points are emphasized in regarding arts education as a basic: (1) Aesthetic experience is basic because it is a primary form of experience on which all cognition, judgment, and action depend. It is the…

Reviews research on elementary school students' capacity for historical understanding. Suggests Piagetian theory is not applicable to historical thinking. Considers teaching approaches for developing elementary history instruction, including (1) embedding history in meaningful context; (2) use of narrative; (3) linking past and present; and (4)…