International comparisons of languages have shown how mathematical concepts can be expressed and conceptualised in different languages. For multilingual students, these findings raise the question of how the interplay of languages and conceptualisations shape multilingual learning processes. This paper presents an investigation of case studies of…

In this study, we explore how cross-linguistic differences can contribute to children's scientific thinking. We compared first and third grade Chinese students' pre-instructional ideas of the earth expressed in clinical interviews with that of their English-speaking and Greek-speaking counterparts (as recorded in the literature). Inspired by a…

Two concept-formation experiments were conducted with groups of American and Liberian Ss differing in age and educational background. (Authors)

Groups of formally educated and of uneducated rural Kpelle tribesman and children were given conceptual learning problems. The finding that education proved to have no significant effect on rule learning for either a conjunctive or a disjunctive rule is interpreted as indicating that formal education exerts its influence primarily on the way in…

This paper has attempted to outline some basic aspects of Piaget's theory and place them in cross-cultural perspective. Several questions concerning approaches and the relevance of cross-cultural research for classification of Piagetian theory were discussed: (1) What types of questions within Piagetian theory are amenable to cross-cultural…

The purpose of this investigation was to make a cross-cultural study of the abilities of Anglo-, Black-, and Mexican-American young children of low status parents to process a given set of language and thought universals. The 27 subjects (nine subjects in each ethnic group) were divided into three subgroups according to age-grade levels, 5, 6, and…