The article reports two phases of a study that, through use of Piagetian reasoning assessments, indicated significant delays in the cognitive development of 75 congenitally blind students (6 to 18 years) compared to 75 sighted Ss. Developmentally appropriate reasoning experiences produced equivalent performance of blind Ss to that of the sighted…

The creative act arises out of a need to explore human experience, and mathematics is a locus of creative activity. Mathematics should be taught to show the value of imagination and reasoning. (MT)

A study of 240 students in grades 4-10 found that fourth graders performed well on a proverb comprehension task involving contextual information, refuting earlier findings that preadolescents interpret proverbs literally. Performance was found to improve steadily through grade eight and was correlated to performance on a perceptual analogical…

This paper presents a cognitive theoretical framework for the learning of mathematics which has generic implications for other disciplines. The framework has been developed using a combination of established theories about learning and the authors' research into the understanding of some specific types of learning. It is based on the integration…

Reasoning and logical thinking can be defined and explained from different perspectives. Three approaches are reviewed in this report; they are: (1) the logical structure approach; (2) the Piagetian approach of developmental stages; and (3) the information processing or memory approach. Four hypotheses related to these approaches were investigated…

Investigates several key statements from Piaget's cognitive psychology and their meaning for science education. Concludes that teaching must be conducted as reversibly as possible so that when the teacher presents his own assimilation schemata it will be equilibrated by the pupils' schemata. (GA)

Argues that the best way to cultivate children's reasoning is to make philosophy an essential part of the elementary school curriculum. Philosophy alone provides the logical criteria for distinguishing better thinking from poorer. The author's "Philosophy for Children" program is described. (TE)

This paper discusses ways to use worked examples in teaching mathematics. It is argued that neither investigative teaching such as discovery learning nor lecturing and starting from the abstract are helpful as they are based on emotive associations with general labels rather than precise details of pedagogic strategies. (KHR)

The effects of problem size on judgments of commutativity by 51 moderately and mildly retarded students were investigated. Results indicated that many retarded students who are given computational practice recognize the general principle that addend order does not affect the sum. (Author/DB)

Comparison of the comprehension of proverbs of 200 students (50 each in Grades 6, 8, 10, and 12) found growth in proverb comprehension was most pronounced at two transitional points in development: when students move from late childhood into early adolescence, and again when they move from late adolescence into adulthood. Implications for…

In earlier research the writer was constrained by the variables which were continuously appearing in both experimental class teaching experiences and various psychological experiments to distinguish four levels of cognitive sophistication in so far as mathematical material was concerned between the ages of 7 years and 17 years. In current research…

Described are procedures used to assess reasoning in congenitally blind students. It is explained that the Piagetian Battery of Reasoning Assessments for concrete and formal or abstract thought measures the following basic abilities: reversability of thought, classifacatory thought, spatial orientation, and mental imagery. (CL)

The multiordinal use of terms requires the ability to distinguish essential relationships and attributes from incidental ones. Until the child reaches adolescence, his tendency to confuse incidental and affective factors with those crucial to word meaning hinders his use of terms at all levels of abstraction. Korzybski's theory of multiordinality…

Discusses the importance of developing students' understanding of certain spatial aspects of important concepts. Piaget's contributions to the development of spatial conceptualization are included. Some examples for applying spatial techniques in earth sciences, physics, and chemistry are also presented. (HM)