Although a large part the Physics Education Research (PER) literature investigates students' conceptual understanding in physics, these investigations focus on qualitative, conceptual reasoning. Even in modeling expert problem solving, attention to conceptual understanding means a focus on initial qualitative analysis of the problem; the equations…

Three studies were conducted to assess the abstraction processes involved in the development of the ability to associate numerals with sets of the appropriate size (numeration). Experiment 1 examined the sequence of the ability to discriminate relative numerical magnitude, numerical equivalence, Arabic numerals, absolute size of a set, and…

Results indicate that verbalization is the preferred symbolic process in young children. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Los Angeles, California, 1969. (MH)

Analyzes concept formation in children based on the precepts of general semantics. (RB)

The generally bleak achievement scores of deaf children are contrasted with the near normal reports of both IQ and conceptual development. (Author)

"A new sort of concept attainment or decoding-encoding experimental paradigm based on the model is developed and an experiment on 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds is reported. (Author)

The author emphasizes the importance of concepts and mathematical form in a discussion of understanding mathematics. (MN)

Four kinds of understanding of mathematics are suggested: instrumental, relational, intuitive, and formal. Each type of understanding is described and illustrated. (MN)

Presented is a paradigm for science education research. The paradigm advances the reception learning theory, where regularities to be learned are presented explicitly to the learner. A tool for the study of knowledge production in science education, the Gowin "V," is presented. (RE)

Findings from relevant research applying Piaget's theory to mental retardation, psychosis, and autism are reviewed. Many autistic individuals show an arrest in operative functions at the sensorimotor functions. The early arrest interferes with subsequent development of higher-level conceptual, symbolic, and social skills. (Author)

Eight severely retarded subjects (ages 9-22), four with functional language and four without, performed identity and nonidentity matching tasks employing objects, photographs, and line drawings. As representational complexity increased, greater difficulty in matching stimuli was observed in the nonfunctional language group, with line drawings…

To assess the importance of visual attributes relative to acoustic and semantic attributes in children's encoding, a 64-item recognition test was administered to first- and sixth-grade children. Recognition items were linedrawings of simple objects accompanied by aural labels. By manipulating the picture, label, and referent in various…

In a study of mathematics learning, taking a rule-oriented approach, students were taught to trade objects of type A for objects of types B and C. Children ranging from ages 7 to 9 were given rules for converting A to B and B to C and were then presented with the task of converting A to C. Of the 30, 6 succeeded. Of the 24 who failed, half were…

This paper examines sixth-grade children's thinking related to solving ratio and proportion problems before these children had received any instruction in the domain. It explores unitizing and norming, one of the processes identified by both content analyses (Behr, Harel, Post, & Lesh, 1990); Harel, Behr, Post & Lesh, 1990) and research in…