This is a theoretical paper in which we describe the motivation for and the design of a novel primary physics course for student teachers at kindergarten and primary school levels that uses cognitive tools such as metaphor, analogy, and narrative. The course has been taught in the master's program in teacher education at three Universities over…

Describes an ethnographic study of African American toddlers and families that focused on children's productive competence in naturally occurring narrativelike conversation. Examines emergence of narrative competence; posits definition incorporating minimal requirements for child participation within the fundamental essence of narrative structure.…

Using a neo-Piagetian structural analysis, two studies examined developmental differences in the oral narratives of children aged four to ten years. The first experiment, reporting on 20 children at each of the dimensional substages (mean ages of 4.8, 6.1, 8.5, and 10.6 years), showed that a qualitative shift occurred between four and six years…

A Sample of 576 children participated in a study to determine the manner in which children retain narrative material, what information they retain, and the effects of sex and age upon these aspects of memory. The children, ranging in age from six to eight years, listened to a tape recorded story in individual sessions. Half of them were asked to…

Examined the effects of narrative statements used to evoke imaginal elaborations on children's recall. Found that children generated images that involved multiple referents and that children's memory performance was facilitated when their imaginal constructions were based on material created by themselves rather than on descriptions provided by…

This paper suggests that a change in mode of expression --narrative, descriptive, or expository--can influence the syntactic complexity of children's writing. The implications of the research studies reviewed here may offer direction for education in general. Instructional strategies which make use of variation in writing mode to encourage gains…

Describes a study of fifth grade students' ability to process information from a play, and compares the results to related information from television research. (JC)

Two experiments, involving 90 first-grade children, were conducted to test a retrieval-inefficiency explanation for the failure of visual imagery to facilitate young children's prose recall. (Author/MP)

French-speaking children and adults heard silent comic-strip stories that differed by frame display mode, explicitness of the links between depicted events, and whether the topic changed on the last frame. Subjects' use of referents for the last frame indicated that manipulation of context was a good means of assessing speakers' acquisition of…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate children's understanding of the relationship of narrators to the texts they narrate and how children's developing cognitive abilities influence that understanding. The subjects, 164 children aged 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10, heard a series of short passages containing several characters, one of whom was the…

Maintains that children's ability to understand and use narrative precedes their ability to understand and use other genres. Asserts that the link between history and narrative is overlooked in discussions about children's historical understanding. Argues that children should use narrative. (CFR)