Intraindividual variability is a key component in explaining children's development and learning. Studying this type of variability on the micro-timescale can help us understand real-time constructive processes and the subsequent long-term development. The aim of this article is to study the process of children's understanding of…

In the quest for quality in early childhood education, it is important to explore the subtleties that define socio-culturally relevant pedagogy. A qualitative, multi-case study approach was used to explore perspectives of teachers about socio-cultural influences on their teaching in kindergarten classrooms in Ghana. Four teachers from two…

Children, 4-6 years of age, in special education kindergartens were randomly assigned to a classification training (n 45) and a comparison (n 49) group. Children in the training group were taught the Classification unit of Bright Start, whereas those in the comparison group received a regular content-oriented curriculum. Both groups were given…

Most basic concepts are acquired during preschool period. There are studies indicating that the basic concept knowledge of children is related to language development, cognitive development, academic achievement and intelligence. The relationship between learning behaviors (sometime called learning or cognitive styles) and a child academic success…

Background: Children ordinarily begin their formal education at the age when the great majority of them are capable of understanding the role of addition and subtraction in changing number. In determining critical differences they can apply the oddity principle--the first "pure" abstraction that children ever develop--understanding that…

The development of conceptual and procedural knowledge about counting was explored for children in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 (N = 255). Conceptual knowledge was assessed by asking children to make judgments about three types of counts modeled by an animated frog: standard (correct) left-to-right counts, incorrect counts, and unusual…

A schema based view of addition development is compared with Siegler's latest strategy-choice model, which includes an addition goal sketch (a basic understanding of "the goals and causal relations" of addition; Siegler & Crowley, 1994, p. 196). This metacognitive component in the latter model is presumed to develop as a child practices a basic…

Examines kindergartners' and second graders' knowledge of concept attribute importance and the children's use of this knowledge to categorize. (HOD)

Presents several activities for helping kindergarten and first grade students develop an understanding of the main idea concept. (MM)

The concurrent validity of the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) was investigated by comparing it to two tests of linguistic abilities (Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language--TACL--and the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory--CELI) and five Piagetian tests of cognitive abilities (space, numeration, seriation, time, and classification) with…

THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO EXPLORE THE PIAGET CONCEPT OF CONSERVATION WITH REGARD TO THE CHILD'S CONCEPT OF THE PROPERTY OF LIQUIDS. AN INVESTIGATOR-CONSTRUCTED CONSERVATION INVENTORY WAS GIVEN TO 45 KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE PUPILS SELECTED FROM THE PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, URBANA, ILLINOIS, TO PROVIDE AN INDEX OF THE CHILD'S…

THE STUDY ASCERTAINED WHETHER VARIOUS TRAINING PROCEDURES CAN INFLUENCE THE ACQUISITION OF THE "PIAGETIAN" CONCEPT OF CONSERVATION OF SUBSTANCE. EQUAL NUMBERS OF MALE AND FEMALE, CAUCASIAN, KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO FOUR EXPERIMENTAL AND TWO CONTROL GROUPS. THE TRAINING CONDITIONS WERE COGNITIVE CONFLICT, LANGUAGE…

A social studies concept assessment instrument was developed and used to assess the concept development level of 24 kindergarten and 28 first grade subjects on n social concepts. Significant differences were found in scores for kindergarten and first grade; no significant differences were found in scores for race or sex. (Author/RM)

The growth of spatial awareness and representation was studied in children between ages five and nine. A group of thirteen tasks was administered to subjects three times with periods of approximately six months among sessions. The tasks were selected to measure understanding of projective spatial properties (straight line trajectories,…