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)

This booklet is intended to help teachers and prospective teachers of mentally retarded students to understand the ways in which intellect affects the understanding of reality. Its recommendations are based on G. Kylen's theory of the intellect and J. Piaget's theory of intellectual development. The initial section describes the function and…

Jean Piaget's theories about the development of intelligence and their implications for educational practice are explored. Before Piaget began studying the intellectual processes of children, researchers regarded them as "little adults." He derived his early fame from his theory of the "cognitive stages" of childhood. He…

Discusses the concept of bioplasmic forces--the foundation of human growth, regeneration of cells, and life energy--and the relationship between physical and mental development of the child, focusing on the theory that premature or forced learning may cause intellectual or academic retardation. (TO)

The conservation of distance and of length and the awareness of the horizontal and of the vertical do seem to significantly precede the measurement of length, but the results did not indicate that these four tasks have any developmental order among themselves. Bibliography, charts. (Author)

Traditional developmental protocols based on neurological or sensorimotor models frequently underestimate the cognitive status of physically handicapped infants. A critical review of current clinical practices in the area of infant assessment is followed by a discussion of an alternative approach, a perceptual-cognitive approach, and the…

Three experiments using "backward reasoning" found that: age differences occurred in predicting surprise relative to false belief; by age five or six, children claim that surprise occurs when gaining knowledge where one was previously ignorant or held a false belief; by age seven to nine, they understand that surprise will more likely…

Examination of the child prodigy phenomenon suggests it is a result of extremely accelerated mental development during sensitive periods that leads to the rapid growth of a child's cognitive resources and their construction into specific exceptional achievements. (Author/DB)

This chapter explores the dynamics of generational cohort differences and their potential influence on the understandings, emphases, and applications of student development theory.

This article serves as a rejoinder to TM 502 436, focusing on the potential resilience of human cognitive growth. (DEP)

Four years ago, the author assumed the job of Director of Education for a school serving elementary children who had been traumatized by homelessness and associated problems, such as family, domestic, or community violence. The paper relates the struggle of her staff to create a healing school out of a chaotic program that lacked both an effective…

Advanced inhibitory control skills have been found in bilingual speakers as compared to monolingual controls ( Bialystok, 1999 ). We examined whether this effect is generalized to an unstudied language group (Spanish-English bilingual) and multiple measures of executive function by administering a battery of tasks to 50 kindergarten children drawn…

Participants included 106 infants and toddlers living in rural Paraguay and their primary caregiver. Children ranged in age from birth to 24 months and belonged to two distinct groups, including 46 children who had never participated in Pastoral del Nino, an early child development program, and 60 children who had participated in Pastoral for at…

This position paper identifies the purposes and underlying rationale of the middle school, outlines what the middle school program should be--curricular, instructional, and organizational-administrative, and presents some leadership implications. It is assumed that if educators understand the root causes of transescent behavior, they will deal…