Prompted by Piaget's suggestion that there might be qualitative differences in the thinking processes of children who read well as compared with those who read poorly, this study investigated the mental operations of multiple classification and class inclusion as possible characteristics required for a child to abstract and modify efficient…

Numerous mathematical examples are presented which illustrate and raise questions about students' tendencies to overgeneralize. (BB)

Tested hypotheses derived from Beck's cognitive theory of depression. Subjects rated performance before and after receiving feedback on a social interaction task. Results showed depressed males and females had more negative evaluation of present circumstances and poorer memory for feedback. Data were partially supportive of Beck's theory regarding…

This review of research discusses how children with autism may acquire equivalence classes after learning to supply a common oral name to each stimulus in a potential class. A proposed methodology for researching referent naming and class formation, analysis of stimulus classes, and generalization is offered. (CR)

Twenty-five children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 25 children with normal language (NL) were presented with novel vocabulary and bound-morpheme learning tasks. SLI children had significantly lower vocabulary learning levels and less ability to generalize bound morphemes than NL children. Results support the storage/access but not…

This paper comments on the Integrative Strategy Instruction Model, the Strategies Intervention Model, the Content Enhancement Model, and Process-Based Instruction, concluding that such integrative models are appealing because they draw teachers of students with learning disabilities away from strategy training in nonauthentic settings and from…

Examined three-year-old children's ability to generalize novel words to new instances. Suggested that children's similarity judgments and feature selection in name generalization are guided by nonstrategic attentional processes that are minimally influenced by new conceptual information. Proposed that these findings may explain the extraordinary…

This study addressed the problem of promoting generalization of knowledge in people with mental handicaps, by presenting an approach based on the idea that certain cognitive representations of strategies and related concepts are common to solving a wide variety of problems. The surface context of these problems may vary considerably, but all will…

Working on the hypothesis that if readers had several alternative correct meanings of a given text set before them they would select the one in accordance with their abstract abilities and intellectual maturity, a study investigated the measurement of levels of meaning as illustrated in taxonomies and focused on the applicability of the taxonomies…

Two adults (ages 37 and 57) with severe mental retardation in a supported employment setting (a janatorial supply company) were taught to use self-instruction in combination with multiple exemplar training to solve work-related problems. The combined strategy resulted in generalization to nontrained problems.The use of the strategy to promote…

This paper presents the Hypothesis Testing Theory/Model and the Information Processing Model developed by M. Parrill-Bernstein in relation to the field of behavior disorders. The models provide a framework for (1) studying both problem solving skills and social behavior and (2) developing intervention programs for behavior disordered adolescents.…

The paper reviews research in the area of cognition, specifically cognitive controls (information processing habits which tend to function across a variety of content areas). The review addresses information on three research questions: (1) What cognitive factors can reliably measure and describe the differences in levels of academic achievement…

The effects of negative instances on the acquisition of the mathematical concepts of commutativity and associativity were examined. Also investigated were possible transfer effects that might result from the use of negative instances. For 64 ninth-grade subjects, results favored the treatments containing mixed instances and supported the transfer…

The purpose of this study was to investigate in children from ages 4 to 10 the development of logical propositions and to determine whether or not there is a developmental sequence in children's ability to supply missing elements of syllogisms. A specially designed instrument, consisting of an equal number of items with missing major premises,…

A model of informational interaction between teachers and learners has been developed and the first facet for its taxonomy derived. The model focuses on the internal cognitive events of teaching and learning in human beings generally, rather than on the specific roles of instructor and student. Teacher-learner communication is described in terms…