The authors explore how children's play can support the development of the foundations of mathematics learning and how adults can support children's representation of--and thus the "mathematization" of--their play. The authors review research about the amount and nature of mathematics found in the free play of children. They briefly…

Children with mental retardation have pronounced difficulties in using cognitive strategies and comprehending abstract concepts--among them, the concept of sequential time (Van-Handel, Swaab, De-Vries, & Jongmans, 2007). The perception of sequential time is generally tested by using scenarios presenting a continuum of actions. The goal of this…

Early childhood neglect can limit a child's normal cognitive development and result in behavior problems in the classroom. When normal attachment is disrupted, learning difficulties can result in problems with time awareness. It has also been shown that an awareness of time is a key concept for the formation of organizational and math skills. This…

Class-inclusion in first grade children was studied by using part-whole comparisons of families of stimuli (e.g., dogs). Results indicated that it was easier to make part-whole comparisons for the family relation than for the class-inclusion relation. (ST)

Children can recognize patterns much earlier than they can reconstruct them. A child cannot understand seriation in an operational sense unless he recognizes a seriated configuration. (ST)

Results support view that development of part-whole perception is mediated by logiclike perceptual regulations. (MH)

The study explored ways in which congenitally blind children group objects and words, revealing their level of cognitive development. Differences in patterns of response as a function of age and type of tasks are presented, and the implications of these findings for the education of this population are discussed. (Author/CL)

PIAGET'S THEORETICAL FORMULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSERVATION OF CONTINUOUS QUANTITY WAS EXAMINED. CONTROL SUBJECTS IN EACH OF TWO AGE GROUPS (5 AND 6 YEARS) WERE GIVEN A COMPLEX TASK SITUATION THAT IS TYPICAL OF PIAGET'S WORK. THESE SUBJECTS WERE ALSO GIVEN ANOTHER TASK, A MEASURE OF CONSERVATION OF QUANTITY THAT IS INDEPENDENT OF PIAGET'S…

Nonoperational first graders were taught Piaget's horizontality concept. In comparison to control subjects, training group subjects significantly increased correct responses, maintained their gains, and transferred their training from a straight-sided jar to a round-sided jar. (Author/DB)

Empirically describes the relative development of perceptual and conceptual understanding of left-right, back-front, up-down projective relationships between objects and provides a heuristic model of the cognitive processes involved in coordination of perspectives tasks. (Author/ED)

Tests the distinction between inferring new categories on the basis of property information (predicted to be difficult) and inferring new properties on the basis of category information (predicted to be easier) among 57 preschool children. (HOD)

Maintains that Madole and Oakes' hypotheses are incorrect. Shows that conceptual development frequently goes from the abstract to the concrete and that extensive literature shows that there is more than one kind of categorization. Discusses ways in which perceptual and conceptual categorization differ. (Author/KB)

The study examined the effectiveness of enhancing perceptual differentiation in the training of four developmentally delayed preschool children who were so low-functioning that they did not demonstrate oddity responding (ability to choose one distinct stimulus from a group of identical stimuli). Instead of the Arabic numerals used in the original…

Children three through six years of age were asked to imitate actions depicted in photographs to determine whether they could interpret information of action in photographs. Twenty children at each of four age levels, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years, were asked to imitate two photos, each showing a young child performing a physical action. Following this…

Examines developmental change in 4- 7- and 10-month-old infants' perceptions of correlations among attributes to determine whether relational information plays a role in abilities ranging from the perception and recognition of a simple pattern to the formation of a category. (HOD)