An examination of student papers from three universities on the same tasks revealed that expository writing tasks were less demanding cognitively than argumentative writing tasks and that argumentative writing tasks were less demanding than speculative tasks. Another finding was that when students were able to translate a generalized task into…

BECAUSE TEACHERS NEED RESOURCES BOTH TO ASSESS AND TO DEVELOP INTELLECTUAL SKILLS IN YOUNG CHILDREN, THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE UNDERTOOK A PROJECT IN THE FIRST GRADES OF 25 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS DURING THE 1964-1965 SCHOOL YEAR. FOUR ASSUMPTIONS FORMED THE THEORETICAL BASE OF THE PROJECT--(1)…

The implicit assumption behind personal writing assignments given at the beginning of a writing course is that personal essays eliminate the writing apprehension of having nothing to say. However, college freshmen find it very difficult to write about themselves and their own opinions because this writing involves abstract mental processes and…