Investigations of the growth of children's communicative behavior and ability, in terms of their interactions with media and their communication with other people, are described in this book. The first chapter presents an overview of the studies, explains the developmental perspective that characterizes them, and identifies some issues fundamental…

TWENTY-SEVEN DISADVANTAGED 4-YEAR-OLDS PARTICIPATED IN A STRUCTURED PRESCHOOL PROGRAM WHICH STRESSED LANGUAGE AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT. THE CHILDREN WERE PLACED IN EITHER A MORNING OR AN AFTERNOON CLASS. THESE CLASSES WERE SUBDIVIDED INTO 3 ABILITY GROUPS, EACH WITH ITS OWN TEACHER WHO STAYED WITH HER CHILDREN. CONTENT AREA MATERIALS USED IN…

THE LITERATURE ON INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT APPEARS TO ATTRIBUTE TO THE YOUNG CHILD A HIGH LEVEL OF LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT AND A RELATIVELY LOW LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER COGNITIVE SPHERES. IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE THIS DISCREPANCY, THE AUTHOR ADVANCED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE DESCRIPTIONS OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT ARE BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF THE…

Cognitive developmental learning is a concept expressing the hypothesis that learning has a continuing, cumulative, and transformational function in the development of intelligence. Two important questions are, "How much do we know about methods?" and "What classes of knowledge and abilities should we develop?" An analysis of past investigations,…

This document is an annual report for the academic year 1966-67 dealing with research of the Merrill-Palmer Institute conducted in conjunction with the Head Start Evaluation and Research Center of Michigan State University. Section one of the report consists of five research studies on learning and cognition: (1) Modification of Classificatory…

This report describes a survey of Appalachian parents conducted to determine what abilities they expect their children to develop before entrance into first grade. The survey was designed to help establish an empirical base for the curriculum of Appalachia Educational Laboratory's Home-Oriented Preschool Education Program (HOPE). HOPE is an…

Described is a project to develop child-based measurement scales for assessing the achievement of handicapped children (birth to 8 years old) served by the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program (HCEEP) projects. In the first section, steps involved in the development of the Children's Early Education Developmental Inventory (CEEDI) are…

This program guide, designed to be used in prekindergarten programs, was developed by the Jefferson County Public Schools in Lakewood, Colorado. The guide is organized into three major sections. The first section presents the philosophy of early childhood education on which the guide is based, a summary of the characteristics of young children at…

This booklet briefly describes the activities of the Demonstration and Research Center for Early Education (DARCEE), including the basic philosophy of the DARCEE approach, the application of that philosophy in the classroom, the three different classroom training centers, the intervention program, and research and training programs. The purpose of…

In this study an attempt was made to obtain a developmental dimension for estimating longitudinal development on the basis of cross-sectional data. To check the validity of this approach, the cross-sectional data were compared with true longitudinal data. Forty-three public school children were given a series of conservation tasks in four…

Inner city children have suffered indiscriminately from strict, illogical scoring of standardized IQ tests which do not credit children with thoughtful responses accurately reflecting their experiences and backgrounds. As a result, IQ scores too often doom these children to learning situations for children of lower mentality levels than their own.…

This final report of "Meeting of Experts" summarizes the major issues raised by participants of the spring 1974 UNESCO meeting on the psychological development of children from birth to 6 years of age and implications for the educational process. Five position papers, presented by individuals representing a broad range of interests and…

There are seven major sets of differences between young children of different economic backgrounds. The middle class child, compared to the lower class child, generally exhibits: (1) better language comprehension and expression, (2) richer schema development, involving mental preparation for the unusual, (3) stronger attachment to the mother,…

A modified approach to the development of verbal expression in young children is proposed as an alternative to either the prescriptive-instructional method or the developmental viewpoint which relies on self-initiated learning. The Bereiter-Engelmann method, the method based on operant conditioning, and the Montessori method are representative of…

This report is part of a comprehensive study of the cognitive, personal, and social development of disadvantaged children over the crucial period age three through grade three. The aims of the study are to identify the components of early education associated with children's development, to determine the environmental and background factors…