English has a universal appeal and in India, English is associated with modernity and progress sometimes with the ideology of its cultural values. The economic value of English is very high in India as even a layman uses English words in his/her "native" communication. The second language acquisition happens for learners at various…

Background: Shayer, Ginsburg, and Coe (2007) showed that children leaving primary school in Y6 entered secondary school with much lower levels of understanding of the physical conservations than in 1976. It seemed desirable to investigate cognitive development in the first three years of secondary education. Aims: By using two Piagetian tests of…

The reasoning of adolescents in indeterminate situations was examined with particular attention given to how individuals incorporate the possibility that outcomes are determined jointly by more than one variable. Kuhn and Brannock's (1977) plant problem and two other similarly structured problems were administered to 25 inner-city adolescents…

The extent to which adolescents rely on rational versus experiential information processing was studied with 49 adolescents administered multiple measures of formal operations, two critical thinking questionnaires, a measure of rational processing, and a measure of ego identity status. Implications for studies of development are discussed in terms…

Examined college students' logical reasoning ability using the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) as a major predictor of science acheivement. Reports an improvement on each of the subscale scores, and a significant correlation with four science subjects on both pre- and post-TOLT scores. (YP)

Demonstrates that 11-year-old children's scientific thinking in formal operational terms can be significantly developed through training in the cognitive style of field independence determined by the Group Embedded Figures Test. Suggests students could perform formal operationally if they had the skill of identifying the variables to be…

The study of 281 adolescents found no significant differences in creativity subvariables between the developmental stages of concrete and formal operations. Significant relationships were found between age and creativity. Figural flexibility, originality, and elaboration decreased as age increased from 13 to 16 years. (Author/JDD)

Reports on the results of using, in the context of secondary education in Pakistan, an intervention program which earlier was shown in British schools to have a substantial effect over a two-year period on the cognitive development of pupils. (Author/CCM)

This paper is an attempt to clarify the ambiguity surrounding the issue of adult creativeness. The significance and the limitations of the Genetic Epistemological paradigm in the conceptualization of adult inventiveness are discussed. A framework is suggested that provides an alternative for the study of adult creativeness from a…

An Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks was used to assess attainment of five Piagetian tasks of elementary and secondary-level teacher candidates and of general population college students. Results were compared and are discussed. Recommendations to promote cognitive maturity are presented. (Author/MT)

Proposes a theoretical model of cognitive development and applies this model to the secondary analysis of two large-scale studies which focus on the acquisition of formal operational schemata by adolescents in the United States and Israel. Results support the "unity" hypothesis of cognitive development that the various schemata of formal…

Examined relationship between levels of Piagetian formal reasoning ability and values preferences derived from Rokeach Value Survey. Findings from 448 secondary school students revealed that subjects with high scores on formal reasoning ranked terminal values representing abstract notions with long-term implications higher than those focusing on…

Extends prior theory and research by postulating the existence of an intermediate class of concepts called 'hypothetical'. Investigates the hypothesis that three kinds of scientific concepts exist by constructing and administering a test on concepts introduced in a college biology course. Supports the hypothesis that intellectual development…

Heim's AH4 Test of General Intelligence, Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, and two Piagetian formal operations tests (Shayer's Science Reasoning Tasks and Arlin's Test of Formal Reasoning) were administered to 459 15-year-olds attending Secondary three (grade nine) in Singapore. A hierarchical factor structure was found underlying all of…

In a study of operative thought in children, 104 children, aged 4 to 9, were tested 5 times with the same 25 Piagetian tasks. There were manifest indicators of synergy in the development of the various behaviors, but it was not possible to validate specific problems of behavior organization. (SLD)