This paper criticizes the Yeany, Yap, and Padilla paper (1986). Questions the internal consistency about hierarchical relationships of integrated processes and cognitive reasoning concerning procedures used for the generation of subhierarchies, instrumentation used to assess the process skills, and rigor of lexicon. (YP)

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)

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…

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…

Investigates the effects of two context variables on the performance of seventh-grade students on a qualitative and numerical proportional reasoning test. Explores the nature of the relationships between rational number skills, qualitative reasoning about ratios, and numerical proportional reasoning. (Author/YP)

Investigates the effect of cognitive style on the performance of college students on proportional reasoning tasks. Reports that students having proportional reasoning can be misled by the presence of field effects and that there was a significant correlation between the test of field independence and the items of proportional reasoning. (Author/YP)

The constructivist hypothesis that the acquisition of domain-specific conceptual knowledge (declarative) requires the use of general procedural knowledge was tested. Students (n=314) were classified as reflective, transitional, or intuitive thinkers and presented with four concept-acquisition tasks. Skill in hypothetico-deductive reasoning…

Investigated was the relation between student ability to translate sentences into equations, equations into sentences, and student performance in formal operational reasoning, proportional reasoning, and introductory-level chemistry. Results indicate that students who lack formal operational skills may experience problems in the translation of…

Explores the relationships between seventh-grade students' misconceptions of genetics and natural selection and four cognitive variables: reasoning ability; mental capacity; verbal intelligence; and cognitive style. Reports that only the reasoning ability was significantly related to the number of misconceptions. (Author/YP)

Reports a study of 922 college students that classified the students based on performance on formal operational reasoning tasks. Students were also administered seven logic tasks. Response patterns were analyzed and found to be similar to patterns derived from the multiple-hypothesis theory of advanced scientific reasoning and different from those…

Presented is a study in which students' intellectual reasoning development was evaluated following instruction that emphasized formal operations in a traditional lecture format. Results indicated that formal-operational students had significantly more success in the three reasoning areas than transitional students and transitional students had…

Presents a comparative analysis of the psychometric properties of three group tests of logical thinking used in science education research. Findings dealing with Longeot's Test of Logical Thinking, Lawson's Test of Formal Reasoning, and Tobin and Capie's Test of Logical Thinking demonstrate a lack of concurrent validity. Includes recommendations.…

Students (n=46) were assigned to one of three instructional groups (descriptive, question design, and hypothesis testing) to test the hypothesis that descriptive learning cycles are not sufficient to stimulate students to reason at a formal operational level. Analyses indicated that the hypothesis-testing group exhibited a significant increase on…

Assesses the role of science topic instruction combined with logical reasoning strategy instruction in teaching high school students about blood pressure problems. Reports positive effects of the combined instruction compared to science topic instruction. (Author/YP)

Two years after the end of a two-year intervention program set within the context of science learning intended to promote formal operational thinking, achievement of students (n=234) was tested by their results on British National examinations taken at age 16. Male experimental subjects achieved an average of 40 percent more grades of C or above…