Although prominent theories in college student development cover a breadth of developmental aspects and draw from various fields of study, the literature lacks a developmental theory that explains the neurological processes that occur during student development. This literature review uses Neuro-semantic Language Learning Theory (Arwood, 1983;…

Most theories of learning would predict a gradual acquisition and refinement of skills as learning progresses, and while some highlight exponential growth, this fails to explain why natural cognitive development typically progresses in stages. Models that do span multiple developmental stages typically have parameters to "switch" between…

Many American preschool children enter kindergarten without the emergent literacy skills needed to learn to read. To address this problem, this multicase qualitative study investigated the emergent literacy practices at Steiner Waldorf-inspired and Reggio Emilia-inspired schools. The research questions focused on how alternative preschool…

This article represents an amazing reversal of linguistic analysis. Usually Montessori language is translated into "state" terminology. In this case, Sarah Werner Andrews puts state quality assessment terms into Montessori language. For example, domains for school readiness include 1) physical wellbeing and motor development, 2) social…

Lev Vygotsky is no doubt one of the leading educational theorists in history. His theories have been used to guide teaching and learning in public school classrooms for over a century. Vygotsky was considered to be one of the most creative psychologists of the twentieth century. This article covers a brief accounting of his birth, life…

Intellectual (cognitive) development, the emergence of increasingly sophisticated forms or levels of understanding, reasoning, and rationality is an ongoing process of reflection, coordination, and social interaction that begins in early childhood and continues, at least in some cases, long into adulthood (Moshman, 2003). In this process, language…

Most educators are familiar with Lev Vygotsky's concept of the "zone of proximal development," yet the bulk of Vygotsky's pioneering theory of cognitive development largely remains unknown. This volume provides a systematic, authoritative overview of Vygotsky's work and its implications for educational research and practice. Major topics include…

What is questioned here is not the teaching of words but their premature imposition upon the child before he has acquired the concepts that underlie them. (Author)

Reviews and compares the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky on the relationships between child language and thought, as presented in their respective works, "The Language and Thought of the Child" and "Thought and Language." (SJL)

Research supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation; reports results of experiments in general cognitive development of children tested for their comprehension of the words more'' and less'' (RS)

The work of two theorists are compared by focusing on a limited number of central issues for a language-based theory of learning (LTL), including long-term goals and a genetic approach; language and social activity; appropriating culture; thinking in school; sociosemantic variation; enculturation; and intellectual consequences. The combined…

This paper suggests that language study focus its attention more on the pedagogical needs of educators by offering them a more comprehensive dialectical and unifying theory of language development that could then present the process as a holistic endeavor instead of as a set of separate linguistic acquisitions. Specifically, it suggests the use…

In this introduction, Royer suggests that the major task facing both the developmental and educational psychologist is to establish a theoretical framework that can provide an account of the development of knowledge structures relevant to the reading process and that can suggest guidelines for translating the theory into educational practice.…

In this paper two questions are raised: (1) Is there any meaning to current research? (2) Is meaning important to the language acquisition process? It is necessary to explore the nature of research in general to evaluate what kind of research we are doing. This leads us to consider next the content of research on human learning and on the…

In this book Piaget considers the way children learn about the world. He addresses such questions as the following: How does a child learn to perceive the world around him? How, for example, does he learn that by grasping an object, he can pull it towards him, or that a ball of clay, flattened, is no smaller than it was before? How does he learn…