In light of the paramount value placed on critical thinking (CT) in higher education and the scarcity of research into the use of cinematic adaptations to this end, this study investigated the incorporation of film into the source literature to hone students' cognitive skills in the areas of analysis, inference, evaluation, induction, and…

The method presented provides a systematic approach for communicating information about interrelationships between concepts taught in a psychology course. Students who did not receive the information through traditional instructional methods received enhanced scores on tests of structural understanding. Five references are listed. (MER)

Students in grades 5, 8, 11, and college were administered Piagetian tasks dealing with horizontals and verticals. The tasks were the bottle task, the pendulum task, and the faucet task. The results disagreed with Piaget's suggested timetable. Since the horizontal task results did not yield a majority of correct predictions for any of the groups,…

This paper describes the Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks, summarizes the data on its reliability and validity, comments on its usefulness as a quick, paper-pencil test which introductory chemistry instructors might use for assessing cognitive development, and presents data showing how introductory chemistry students scored on it.…

Presents preliminary findings of results of tests of Piagetian cognitive development to predict success in introductory undergraduate physics courses. Grades were predicted with good success. (SL)

The purpose of this study was to identify potential sources of individual and group differences affecting formal thought, and to examine the relationship between the performance of college students on a specific formal operational task and their performance on other cognitive measures identified as possible sources of individual differences. (MK)

Concerned with a high failure rate in computer programming courses, two studies were undertaken to discover if two individual cognitive styles--"analytic" (formal thought) and "heuristic" (concrete or pre-operational thought)--were predictors of performance in a beginning computer programming course. To appropriately measure…

A longitudinal study of 23 colleges and universities sought to estimate the impacts of on- and off-campus work on standardized measures of student cognitive development across three years. Findings suggest that, for the most part, work that does not exceed 15 or 20 hours a week does not seriously affect student cognitive development. (SLD)

A sample of 467 college freshmen attending a comprehensive, medium size, public institution on the mid-Atlantic coast was studied to examine the relationship between the development of identity and the development of cognition in traditional college freshmen. The sample was predominantly white (88.3%) and of the total number, 51 percent were male…

This paper describes the Measure of Epistemological Reflection (MER), an instrument to assess cognitive developmental level according to the Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development. It contains sets of questions for each of the six cognitive domains: decision making, learner role, instructor role in the learning process, peer role in…

Reviews major purposes and conclusions, and criticisms of cross cultural Piagetian studies conducted during the last two decades. The particular interest of science educators in the work is discussed in light of the availability of new instruments for assessing levels of cognitive development and for analyzing science curricula. (Author/JN)

Reports results of a study investigating the ability of college students to solve problems using proportional reasoning. Also discusses implications for consideration of Piagetian cognitive level of students in planning college courses. (CS)

A project to evaluate Furth's Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks is described, particularly as that test might be useful in adapting instruction and curricula to the cognitive level of science students. This multiple-choice paper-pencil inventory has 72 items in five problem areas: conservation, images, relations, classification, and laws.…

This study sought to determine the extent to which instructional processes characterized by cognitive complexity influence the development of general cognitive abilities during the first, second, and third years of college. The sample for the study consisted of incoming first-year students at 18 four-year and 5 two-year colleges and universities…

This 42-month project at the University of Denver (Colorado) developed materials and faculty development activities concerning application of Kitchener and King's reflective judgment theory. Testing and implementation were at the University of Denver and Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and the University of Missouri (Columbia). The model…