The study was designed to test the hierarchy of difficulty in the acquisition of principles of class and conditional logic for 120 children of normal intelligence, and to compare the relative rates of logic development for those children of normal intelligence with the rate of logic development found in a previous study involving 120 gifted…

This study attempted to clarify the developmental progression in the understanding of conditional sentences by evaluating the capacity of 71 third, 70 sixth, and 64 ninth graders to learn three interpretations of abstract conditional sentences. (JMB)

One hundred and sixty gifted children (4-11 years old) participated in a study confirming a hierarchy of difficulties for logic activities and the existence of a developmental trend in logic learning. (CL)

Piaget's theory of cognitive developmental levels is criticized on the grounds that it blends empirical and philosophical issues of knowledge and, therefore, confuses genetic psychology and epistemology. (JN)

Even among individuals operating at Piaget's highest cognitive level (Formal Operations Stage) there is a range of behaviors on important cognitive characteristics. Various substages and their performance criteria are suggested. (JD)

The link between writing and the development of reasoning abilities, and implications for the college curriculum are discussed. The developmental models/theories of Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Perry are described. Perry identifies a level of cognitive development called "dualism," which is a tendency to view the world in absolute,…

A 16-item conditional reasoning test was given to 281 students in grades 8, 10, 12, and 14. Developmental patterns of performance were examined. (Author/JMB)

Children and undergraduate students were studied to expose "structure-neutral" interpretations of logical propositions involving universal affirmatives. Successes with true and false questions and with four different syllogistic forms having three content types were compared. Age-related differences in performance were discussed with…

This study examined the effects of certain contextual linguistic variables on the logical performance of subjects in grades 4, 6, and 12 of selected British Columbia schools as well as some theoretical problems underlying assessment of the development of logical abilities. The task consisted of 27 syllogistic problems based upon the information…

Argues that much of current science curricula and instructional strategies do not accommodate the thinking and reasoning capabilities of students. Level of capacity for abstract logical reasoning, whether the capacity can be cultivated/enhanced, consequences of mismatched intellectual levels and instructional modes, and what thinking/reasoning…

Compared laboratory and naturalistic content influences on formal reasoning tasks of 90 13-, 15-, and 17-year-olds, focusing on tasks requiring ability to control variables. Results indicate that 8 to 20 percent of performance variance was associated with task content. Content effects were also shown to reflect expectations about task variables.…

This study focused on the development of policy thought, or abstract thinking about policy issues. Political thought may be described as concrete thinking about political phenomena. It includes one's knowledge of and attitude toward objects, people, and events in the political sphere. Policy thought entails the abstract manner in which one…

Depending on age and the demands of the task, people may use different processing strategies in object categorization. Three-year-olds used a wholistic approach with strong effects of object typicality on three categorization tasks. Older children and adults showed differential effects of typicality, suggesting various strategies including…

Illustrates advantages of research on practical factors in reasoning. Discusses role of factual knowledge and diagnosis of specific task-based errors in reasoning, influence of individual aptitudes on reasoning, and effect of educational interventions designed to change reasoning. Presents Piagetian position for each position, discusses evidence…

This paper reports on an investigation of children's ability to accept contrary-to-fact premises as though they were factual and to reason accordingly. A variety of questions requiring this skill were presented in semi-structured interview form to 10 to 12 subjects from each of six age groups ranging from 5 to 9 years, and to a control group of…