Moral competence is more difficult to attain than scientific competence. Since language comprehension plays a central role in conceptual development, and moral language is difficult to learn, there is a common deficiency in moral conceptual development. This suggests a theory of non-spontaneous solutions to moral problems. (Author/MS)

High-quality early childhood education programs provide young children with experiences that promote healthy cognitive and social development and the basis for thriving in school. Over the past 20 years, states have made strides in terms of their attention to and provision of early childhood education. While 20 years ago, only about 10 states…

Although pretend play has long been part of the early childhood curriculum, recent emphasis on accountability in education seems to have led to a decline in the general understanding of the contribution that high-quality play can make to children's cognitive development in the early years. This Spanish-language Digest defines the cluster of…

At the Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education, Pennsylvania's largest independent multidisciplinary evaluation program, approximately 300 preschool aged children are evaluated annually to determine developmental performance in the areas of cognition, speech-language, gross and fine motor skills, social-emotional…

This paper establishes a link between children's development, appropriate teaching practices, and the use of computers in the early childhood classroom. The paper notes the growing body of research on young children and computers which educators can use to assist them when integrating technology into their programs. Current investigative studies…

The rate and nature of mother-child interaction - verbal and nonverbal- and its effects are here discussed and recent research is presented and analyzed. (Editor/JB)

Compares academically-oriented, Montessori, British Infant schools and child development or traditional nursery schools. Suggests that a combination of structured learning activities and free play periods is desirable. (NH)

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…

The literature on the infants of narcotic-addicted mothers is reviewed in regard to psychological outcome and those aspects of the medical consequences that contribute to that outcome. (Author/MP)

Early childhood educators have long recognized the value of early socialization experiences provided by the peer group. Early peer experiences contribute to social development in that the importance of cooperating, sharing, and competing among equals is learned for the first time. (JN)

Discusses parent-child interactions in which the content of television programing appears as explicit subject matter. Examines ways in which a child's development may be affected by these parent-child interactions. (JMF)

Space and shape, estimating and measuring, and number are viewed as the three strands of mathematics that come together as a child develops mathematically. Five cognitive/mathematical levels of development, labeled discrimination, order, application, operation, and estimation, are identified and discussed. (MP)

Investigated whether a preschool intervention program for children from single-parent households could be effective in establishing the conditions appropriate for allowing the child to recover from the harmful consequences of divorce and limited adult-child interaction. (Author/DB)

Traces the developmental history of Sesame Street from the initial efforts to obtain funding and set goals to present day importation of programs to other countries. It is recommended that Sesame Street producers incorporate Piagetian theories on cognitive development in order to realize learning gains. (Author)