Preservice teachers in six sections (n = 87) of a sequenced, methodological and process-integrated elementary mathematics/science methods course were able to reconcile an issue centered on a similar area of epistemology. Preservice teachers participated in a science inquiry lesson on biological classification and a mathematics problem-solving…

The doctrine of localized brain functions has strongly influenced many educators. Gerald Edelman's recent research challenges this doctrine by advancing categorization and recategorization as the brain's overriding activities. Instruction that focuses overmuch on similarities is misguided and confusing. Instead, classroom instruction should employ…

The development of the ability to use taxonomic, phonemic and sense impression categories as dimensions of encoding was investigated using third and fifth graders and college students. (ED)

The purpose of this study was to research the purported effects of reduction of "mind set" and achievement of greater consistency in data classification when using Simon's Problem-Solving Approach. (Author/JC)

Article considered some general directions for elementary education, which were inferred from a brief overview of the major trends since the early 1960's. (Author/RK)

Forced-choice items, investigating the performance of 80 undergraduates on verbal classification and verbal analogy, were sequentially presented, allowing independent estimates of the accuracy of four principle component processes: inference, application, recognition, and distraction. Within-task performance showed substantial individual variation…

This paper describes the use of commercially-available software for the Apple Computer to augment diagnostic evaluations of learning disabled children and to enhance "learning to learn" strategies at the application/transfer level of learning. A short rationale discusses levels of evaluation and learning, using a model that synthesizes the ideas…

To determine reasons for the difficulties reading disabled boys commonly have with memory tasks, an investigation of the use of category organization in free recall of such children was undertaken. The performance of 45 nine- to eleven-year-old normal and 45 reading disabled boys was compared on a free recall task in which stimulus items were…

Findings of this Israeli study suggest that perception is affected by lables, learning, and selective attention; that these effects are determined developmentally; and that as age increases, the effects of verbal cues diminish, while the effects of perceptual cues increase. (Author/DLS)

This study investigated the effects of two stimulus manipulations (spatial distinctness and number of dimensions) on the performance of 24 kindergartners and 24 fifth graders in (1) tasks requiring distributed attention and (2) tasks requiring selective attention. Results suggest that kindergartners attempt to use one processing mode (distributed…

In this pilot study, the effect of experimenter cuing on recall and organization of response was analyzed and compared between subjects identified as learning disabled with an isolated memory impairment (LDMI), learning disabled without an isolated memory impairment (LDO), and normal controls (N). Six subjects were selected for each group after…

Proactive interference (PI) build-up and release from PI were used to study automatic conceptual encoding of superordinate and subordinate category lists in low-socioeconomic status (SES) Black children and middle-SES White children (grades 2 and 4). (Results for each population on the three category lists are described). (GDC)

The effects of three types of advance organizer lessons (containing high-order social studies concepts, high-order rules for hierarchical classification, or both) on learning social studies concepts and hierarchical classification, as defined by Piaget, were evaluated for 237 rural children in kindergarten, third, and fifth grades. (Author/MH)

Studied the way in which 32 preschoolers aged three-five years, 28 second-graders and 64 undergraduates generalized from a labeled exemplar to other potential members of the same category. Results indicated that preschoolers focused mostly on single attributes in making category decisions and older individuals primarily exhibited multiple…

This study investigated developmental differences in the use of the common features abstraction strategy and the exemplar learning strategy for concept acquisition. Subjects were 30 second graders and 30 fifth graders. The concepts to be learned were two categories of artificial animals which differed on five dimensions. Each dimension had three…