The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an educational program in improving the level of knowledge of parents about natural growth indicators in the development of children and determining the indicators which delay development in children from birth to three years old. The sample of the study consisted of 60 volunteers who…

The integrated theory of numerical development posits that a central theme of numerical development from infancy to adulthood is progressive broadening of the types and ranges of numbers whose magnitudes are accurately represented. The process includes four overlapping trends: (1) representing increasingly precisely the magnitudes of non-symbolic…

The integrated theory of numerical development posits that a central theme of numerical development from infancy to adulthood is progressive broadening of the types and ranges of numbers whose magnitudes are accurately represented. The process includes four overlapping trends: 1) representing increasingly precisely the magnitudes of non-symbolic…

This study examined if solving arithmetic problems hinders undergraduates' accuracy on algebra problems. The hypothesis was that solving arithmetic problems would hinder accuracy because it activates an operational view of equations, even in educated adults who have years of experience with algebra. In three experiments, undergraduates (N = 184)…

An account of episodic memories is developed that focuses on the types of knowledge they represent, their properties, and the functions they might serve. It is proposed that episodic memories consist of "episodic elements," summary records of experience often in the form of visual images, associated to a "conceptual frame" that provides a…

The aims of this research were to examine the development of teaching skills in preschool children and to explore the relation between teaching and theory of mind (ToM). After learning a new board game, 3.5-, 4.5-, and 5.5-year-old children (N = 46) were asked to teach a confederate who "doesn't know how to play the game." They also received two…

Young children's skilled generalization of newly learned nouns to new instances has become the battleground for two very different approaches to cognition. This debate is a proxy for a larger dispute in cognitive science and cognitive development: cognition as rule-like amodal propositions, on the one hand, or as embodied, modal, and dynamic…

We propose an integration of aspects of several developmental and systems of beliefs models of personal epistemology. Qualitatively different positions, including realism, dogmatism, skepticism, and rationalism, are characterized according to individuals' beliefs across three dimensions in a model of epistemic and ontological cognition. This model…

Word association techniques were used to examine the growth of biological knowledge over a period of years, from fourth-grade to college students. Results were analyzed by classifying stimulus-response word pairs according to the nature of the relationship between the words in each pair. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) the proportion of enactive…

Involving second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth graders and undergraduates, three experiments evaluated the prediction that representations of knowledge of the weeks and months of the year develop from a verbal-list stage to a stage at which image representations are present. Results are interpreted as supporting the two-stage model and appear…

Two experiments yield data suggesting that the structure of children's concept of artifact function changes profoundly between age 5 and 7, with striking effects on problem-solving performance. This effect is not caused by differences in children's knowledge about the typical use of particular tools, but rather, is mediated by the structure of the…

A view of cognitive development emphasizing the formal properties of cognitive structures and processes that remain invariant throughout development is described. Cognitive development is guided by complex sets of constraints, specific sets are tailored for particular cognitive domains, and constraints limit the class of naturally learnable…

This article focuses on two approaches to teaching reasoning and problem solving. One emphasizes the role of domain-specific knowledge; the other emphasizes general strategic and metacognitive knowledge. Many instructional programs are based on the latter approach. The article concludes that these programs can be strengthened by focusing on domain…

A study involving 26 children, aged five to eight years, employed a clinical interview method to examine the children's recognition and knowledge of rule violations in communication. The rules, derived from H. P. Grice's "be cooperative" principle, referred mainly to the maxim "be perspicuous, unequivocal, clear, and…

Based on the view that adults are more effective in teaching positive behavior and in responding to children if they have some knowledge about child development, this pamphlet outlines children's typical abilities and behaviors at various ages from birth to 8 years. The pamphlet is designed to help parents protect their children as they grow up so…