How do researchers of cognitive development work to make sure that our field evolves so that our contribution to humanity is emancipatory? We can take inspiration from researchers near and far. Inspiration may be found in other areas of psychological research (social, cultural, etc.) and other social sciences (public health, sociology, etc.).…

This paper examines the sequence and hierarchy of objectives in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) "Science--A Process Approach" curriculum. The work of Piaget, Bruner forms a framework from which the learning objectives and tasks in the AAAS science curriculum are examined. The points of correspondence…

A total of 141 children, aged 6 to 10 years, were read eight illustrated attribution problems involving play and non-play behaviors and were asked to infer information concerning the story character's intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for the behaviors. Children were grouped into three age levels (mean ages 5.9, 8.8 and 10.3 years) for analysis of…

The nature of young children's inaccuracy in predicting their own memory performance was studied using categorical and unrelated material. Twenty-four children at each of four grade levels (kindergarten and grades two, four, and six) were presented with 18 cards bearing pictures of concrete nouns. Categorical pictures were presented on the right…

In addition to the important role of memory strategies in mediating age changes in recall performance, it is clear that the permanent memory system (or information available in the knowledge base) exerts a significant influence on the acquisition and retention of information. Age changes in memory performance will be fully understood only through…

Territorial decentration is a question of major significance to geographic educators. This paper reports the findings of a research project designed to determine the territorial decentration of an American sample of children. The primary purpose of the research was to determine if Piaget's territorial decentration stages are appropriate for…

A study of 11- and 12-year-old girls indicates that either of two training procedures, method training or dimension training, can aid in the transition from concrete operational to formal operational thought by promoting a hypothesis-testing attitude. (BH)

Investigates Black and White children's development of the concept of race, the visual cues each group uses to distinguish races and the relation of children's racial awareness to their residence in an integrated or segregated community. (BH)

Reported is an experiment undertaken to determine the extent to which analytic and global cognitive styles differed in developing or utilizing a selection type strategy in concept identification. Using the Hidden Figures Test (HFT) in five sections of an introductory psychology class, two groups of students, one analytical and one global, were…

BASED UPON WORK WITH MIDDLE-CLASS ADULTS AND CHILDREN, THREE APPROACHES TO GROUPING HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED--(1) DESCRIPTIVE PART-WHOLE, (2) RELATIONAL-CONTEXTUAL, AND (3) CATEGORICAL-INFERENTIAL. A COMPARISON WAS MADE OF THE FREQUENCY OF THE USE OF THESE APPROACHES AMONG MIDDLE- AND LOWER-CLASS, NEGRO PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN. INITIALLY,…

Task analysis as a tool in the design of instruction is the subject of this paper. Some of the major historical approaches (associationist/behaviorist, gestalt, and Piagetian) are described using examples from mathematics. The usefulness of these approaches to instructional design is evaluated on the basis of four criteria: instructional…

This volume records the papers presented at a Northwestern University symposium concerning the articulation of cognitive psychology with mathematics education. Piagetian theories are described and extended to classroom applications in several of the papers; other psychological theories such as information processing are also discussed. All of the…

Analyzes the appropriateness of textual media in the construction of meaning by reviewing the psychological research on semiotics and multiple intelligences that support a broadened notion of text, and presenting findings from research on the construction of nonprint texts in disciplines other than English. It suggests that exclusively focusing on…

The purpose of this study is to show that there is a gradual and measurable development in the drawing of space representation concepts. A further purpose is to show that children's drawings of a village (which represent relations among concepts) may be a better measure of their conceptual maturity than their drawings of a man (which represent a…

This study sought to explore the possible relationship between parental style of psychological defense and children's social competence in 50 families in which one parent had been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder. The children sampled were nine 4-year-olds, eleven 7-year-olds and thirty 10-year-olds. Based upon a formal analysis of the…