Psychological and biological reasoning are intertwined yet differentiated in preschoolers' understandings of bodily processes and events. Three studies suggest that preschoolers distinguish biological phenomena from psychological ones in their causal reasoning, although their reasoning about biological phenomena is sometimes influenced by…

Examined effects of problem size in mental addition among elementary children in China (n=104) and Missouri (n=105) and among undergraduates in China (n=26) and Missouri (n=35). For all Missouri subjects and Chinese through first grade, larger-valued numbers took longer and induced more errors. (Author/NBI)

Investigated the ability of young children to recognize themselves in delayed videotapes and recent photographs. Results suggested a significant developmental delay in young children's success on mark tests of self-recognition using delayed feedback as compared to live feedback, which may have important implications for characterizing the…

Explores ways that higher education can reintegrate cognitive learning and personal development. Discusses a developmental conceptualization of learning and outlines strategies that help students connect learning in college to their lives. Provides both curricular and cocurricular examples and stresses the importance of a shared vision of…

Discusses how friendships are transformed from equality-based exchange relationships during early childhood into need-based communal relationships during adolescence. Builds upon thesis that developmental changes in friendships can best be understood using both deep- and surface- structure levels of analysis. Examines cognitive representations of…

Focused on (1) the effect of mother-child interaction during a problem-solving task on subsequent, independent child performance; and (2) the variability in the division of task responsibilities and maternal regulation of the child as a function of task difficulty, child age, and task component. Participants were 60 three to five year olds and…

Examined the variability in the development of moral judgment by reanalyzing a set of Kohlberg's data studies on the concept of structured wholeness, a deep cognitive organization unifying different surface judgments given by the same subject. Although the results failed to show total consistency they also show that it is not meaningful to claim…

Examined developmental changes in the use of distance-based and calendar-based approaches to estimate the recency of two events. Found that children's ability to discriminate temporal relationships between two events appears by four to five years of age. In contrast, use of calendar information and cognizance of annual patterns was found only in…

Investigated developmental patterns of cognitive performance over first 3 years of life in sample of 762 low birthweight premature children. Intelligence test scores were obtained at 12, 24, and 36 months adjusted age. Five developmental patterns were identified. Results reveal patterns of cognitive development can be discriminated by three…

Notes that change in the moral and cognitive realms is a long-term historical process that includes progression and regression. Reconstructs the cognitive correlates of historical progress, using as examples the emergence of invariant numbers in Mesopotamia, the growth of logic and perspectivism in the early Middle Ages, and the rise of public…

Demonstrates the need for a process-oriented, constructivist approach to understanding infants' categorization abilities. Suggests that emphasizing the distinction between perceptual and conceptual categorization has been an obstacle to forging an approach. Proposes a more microanalytic consideration of features available to infants at different…

Three hypotheses were tested about how children and adults construct intuitive models when encountering a new property. Causal models showed that 10-, 13-, and 19-year-olds transferred principles from familiar property to novel property. None used default model. Younger children's models were affected by domain. Findings suggest that the transfer…

Suggests that the study of microdevelopment offers a potentially powerful way to relate learning and development where similar changes occur but in differing time frames. Microdevelopment analyzes short-term changes as developmental functions. Individuals and groups function at widely different developmental levels and grow in diverse nonlinear…

Nonuniversal theory can be used to reframe the learning-development dichotomy into a spectrum of important changes, ranging from small-scale learning events to large-scale developmental shifts. Using the universal-to-unique continuum as an organizing framework, several change mechanisms can be identified as necessary for movement through…

Presents two charts designed by Maria Montessori to illustrate the four planes of development. Claims that Montessori's meticulously researched commentary signals an emerging organic vision of the developmental continuum from birth to adulthood that is relevant to the educational needs of our time. (MOK)