Research in moral development from a cognitive-developmental model has been greatly influenced by the Piagetian stage theory of Lawrence Kohlberg. Based on the assumption of inherent cognitive development of internal structures, Kohlberg's theory maintains that the stages are universal across cultures and persons. As a primarily organismic theory,…

This paper discusses Daniel N. Stern's (1985) work, "The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology," with respect to its implications for theory on infant psychosocial development. The paper focuses on two areas: the reconceptualization of psychoanalytic developmental psychology, and the…

Noting that early intervention can be an effective method to help children who have special needs and their parents, this study explored the relationship between a mother's knowledge of development and the age at which she recognizes her child's special needs. The second portion of the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory was used to quantify…

This action research project describes a program to increase the application of spelling skills in students' writing. The target population consisted of first grade students in a middle-class community in the northern suburb of a large metropolitan area. The problems of inadequate application of spelling skills to student writing were documented…

This brief biographical sketch of Maria Montessori focuses on her philosophy of learning and her methods of teaching. Her holistic approach to education is discussed in the light of its impact on educational theories and practices in the early 1900s. Included in this discussion is a description of her theories, such as the developmental stages of…

Samples of 98 fourth graders and 111 sixth graders participated in a study of the relationships between operational thinking and reading comprehension of texts involving operational structures. Tests of operational thinking, reading comprehension, IQ, and vocabulary were administered in class groups. Results from correlational and factor analyses…

The practice of psychological intervention often relied on the ability of the therapist to understand how clients maintain a sense of relatedness to their world. Despite the many discontinuities of self-identity that affect the lives of clients, the success of therapy depends on clients' abilities to connect with human and nonhuman objects in…

The empirical literature regarding the descriptive links between childhood sexual abuse and adult development is reviewed from an Eriksonian perspective. The problems with studying the developmental effects of childhood sexual abuse are discussed. These include the following problems: the lack of differentiation between sexual abuse cases,…

Eighteen pairs of teachers and students from grades one through twelve were each asked to hold a one-half hour discussion as part of a study of developmental changes in teacher/student interaction. Analysis of results from transcriptions of the discussions indicated that all grades used a high proportion of descriptive orientations but that more…

Focusing on appropriate methods and criteria for identifying giftedness in elementary visual arts students, the study consists primarily of an annotated bibliography divided into three sections: childhood visual art development (9 entries); selected identification procedures and instruments (25 entries); and identification techniques in the…

The relationship between level of cognitive functioning at the beginning of first grade and level of reading achievement at the end of first grade was investigated in a sample of 325 children. The EITS Concept Assessment Kit-Conservation was used to classify the children as being in the preconceptual stage, the intuitive stage, or the concrete…

The cognitive levels of 60 children from grades one, three, and five were compared with their linguistic performance on selected examples of similes and metaphors. Cognitive level was measured using Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices; a new instrument was developed to assess children's linguistic performance. Results indicated a significant…

Subjects were 65 six-, eight-, ten-, and twelve-year olds from after-school day care programs. The subjects were unobtrusively observed in free play situations involving peers and the duration of their interactions in six types of peer groups of varying size were recorded. Subjects were also administered a picture card test, composed of 20 sets of…

This thesis presents a model for an Adult Growth and Development Center predicated on preventive/educational counseling for the issues and tasks of adulthood. The model is described in terms of information from three data bases: (1) a review and synthesis of various adult development theories; (2) a review of the literature on outreach programs;…

Evidence is presented to indicate that human knowing involves both a propositional mode stressing discourse, sequence, and logic and an appositional mode characterized by metaphoric constructs, holistic relationships, and the capacity to process many variables simultaneously. Separate sections discuss our culture's heavy emphasis on propositional…