The infant's impressions of his environment are viewed by several philosophers, including Jean Piaget. There has been some past tendency to suppose that, prior to the acquisition of language, the infant has no real impressions about his environment. More recent understandings consider that the infant is capable of conceptualization and can express…

This is a continuation of the report on a study of skill retention (observation and comparison) in junior high school students. (See SE 511 538 for additional information.) Reported in this article is an investigation to determine if the skills retained could be transferred to a new set of scientific objects. Results appeared to show that both…

Provides some teaching tips for elementary teachers that are designed to enhance the natural interests of young children in science and help equip them with important science processing skills. Contains activities related to observation, classification, measurement, and communication. (TW)

This report presents ten ideas about children's learning and cognition that are based on recent research. The empirical findings are reviewed and related to educational practices. The findings concern the following topics of learning and cognition: (1) individual differences, (2) children's problem-solving abilities and ability to remember…

The paper defines and assesses a concept acquisition model for describing the behavior processes through which conceptual-observational instruction influences teaching behavior. This model is contrasted with two other views of the relationship between this mode of instruction and performance: an imitative behavior model and a behavior labeling…

Interviews with parents from 50 Mexican-descent families revealed that parents encouraged their preschool children to ask questions about science and causal relationships; older and younger siblings learned different skills from one another; and children learned through observation and imitation. Discusses issues of "match" between home…

This paper describes seven interrelated studies concerned with children's understanding of sequential actions and with the effects of observing a model on this understanding. A total of 546 elementary and secondary school students served as subjects for the studies. The tasks for all of the studies involved deriving the pattern for a sequence from…

Teachers were designated as more and less effective according to their ability to teach specially constructed reading and mathematics curriculum units over two weeks. They were then studied to determine if their perceptions of classroom interaction and interactive decision making were different. They were also studied to determine whether they…

The question of what children need for optimal development is discussed. The "principle of optimum effects" is seen as fundamental: good for children is only good for them in the "right" of optimum proportions. Seven propositions about the needs of children are advanced: (1) The young child has to have a deep sense of safety;…

A self-report scale was constructed and validated that measures individual differences in objectivism--the tendency to base one's judgments and beliefs upon empirical information and rational considerations. Validity data showed that, compared to people who score low on the Objectivism Scale, highly objective individuals enjoy thinking more, rely…

This volume includes reports of five research projects of the Kansas Center for Research in Early Childhood Education: (1) Individual Differences in Newborn and Young Infants, including research with the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale and laboratory studies of infant discriminative abilities; (2) Development of Social Competence, including…

In resident outdoor education programs, students and their teachers attend an outdoor facility for two days or longer and use the outdoor environment as their primary classroom, focusing on natural sciences, outdoor recreation, social skills, and attitudinal and cognitive development. A resident program should have significant impact on social…