Students who have a strong urban place-identity may perceive the natural world differently from many geoscience instructors. These urban thinkers have less experience in the natural world and are more comfortable in built environments. They may have subtle differences in cognitive and spatial skill development, interest level in the natural…

Recent evidence suggests regular physical activity can positively influence academic performance. Although, little has been published on physical activity's impact on academic performance of students with intellectual disabilities, research shows the impact on brain and cognitive function of movement and physical activity. In this study, seven…

This paper presents research on the effects of a cognitive acceleration intervention in science lessons on low socioeconomic students in a government high school in regional Western Australia. "Thinking Science Australia" is a programme currently being implemented in Australian junior high school classes. The research was conducted for…

Concern for the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on human language development is based on observations of impaired performance on assessments of language skills in these children relative to non-exposed children. We investigated the effects of PCE on speech processing ability using event-related potentials (ERPs) among a sample of…

Although curiosity is an undeniably important aspect of children's cognitive development, a universally accepted operational definition of children's curiosity does not exist. Almost all of the research on measuring curiosity has focused on adults, and has used predominately questionnaire-type measures that are not appropriate for young children.…

Disadvantaged children face a host of challenges to academic success. These challenges fall into two broad categories. First, as one might expect, wealthier parents have the resources to provide more and better learning opportunities for their children. Second, children from poorer homes are subject to chronic stress, which research from the last…

Education rests on the foundation of culture in the broadest sense of that word. How deeply and solidly that foundation has been laid down determines the size and solidity of the building that can be constructed on it. This applies in particular to higher education, which is by no means designed solely to offer just a body of specialized…

This article looks anew at the important role of physically active, outdoor play in children's social and cognitive development and the role of adults in supporting active, child-directed outdoor play. The authors describe the concept of play ecologies to highlight how children experience their environment as enlivened by their interactive…

Individuals with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulties understanding the non-verbal cues conveyed by others that provide symbolic information about relationships between self, other, and environmental events. This study examined whether these difficulties reflect underlying problems in the identification of temporal…

Items studied as pictures are better remembered than items studied as words even when test items are presented as words. The present study examined the development of this picture superiority effect in recognition memory. Four groups ranging in age from 7 to 20 years participated. They studied words and pictures, with test stimuli always presented…

Aim: The aim of this study was to review the effects of early developmental intervention after discharge from hospital on motor and cognitive development in preterm infants. Method: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs of early developmental intervention programmes for preterm infants in which motor or cognitive outcomes were reported…

We examined developmental aspects of the ability to monitor the temporal context of an item's previous occurrence while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. In a continuous recognition task, children between 10 and 12 years and young adults watched a stream of pictures repeated with a lag of 10-15 intervening items and indicated…

This paper re/considers empathy and its implications for learning in the art classroom, particularly in light of relevant neuroscientific investigations of the mirror neuron system recently discovered in the human brain. These investigations reinterpret the meaning of perception, resonance, and connection, and point to the fundamental importance…

Children around 4, 5, and 7 years old (N = 48) listened to scenarios depicting a child alone or accompanied by another person (mother, father, friend) who encounters an entity that looks like a real or an imaginary fear-inducing creature. Participants predicted and explained each protagonist's fear intensity and suggested coping strategies.…

With increasing numbers of preterm infants surviving, the impact of preterm birth on later cognitive development presents a major interest. This study investigates the impact of preterm birth on later dorsal- and ventral-stream functioning. An atypical pattern of performance was found for preterm children relative to full-term controls, but in the…