Dual-process theories have been proposed to explain normative and heuristic responses to reasoning and decision-making problems. Standard unitary and dual-process theories predict that normative responses should increase with age. However, research has focused recently on exceptions to this standard pattern, including developmental increases in…

Previous studies have found that children have difficulty solving proportional reasoning problems involving discrete units until 10 to 12 years of age, but can solve parallel problems involving continuous quantities by 6 years of age. The present studies examine where children go wrong in processing proportions that involve discrete quantities. A…

Research supported by National Science Foundation grant GE-3 to the University of Minnesota.

This study attempts to follow the development of an "awareness" of the importance of consistency in a logical system with three elements and one operation. Subjects were 127 male and female students, 9-, 11-, 14-, and 16-years-old. (Author/SDH)

A proposed study of the differences in the way children perceive, approach, and behave in problem-solving situations is described. The behavioral measure to be used is "glancing," which has been related to outerdirectedness. Children will be given two sets of two puzzles to put together. On the basis of the number of glances and the situation in…

Describes components contributing to memory development, including: (1) capacity or processing allocation features of the information processing system; (2) strategies or control processes for problem solving; and (3) knowledge or semantic features acquired through experiences. Empirical evidence is reviewed supporting the psychological reality of…

Suggests that the study of microdevelopment offers a potentially powerful way to relate learning and development where similar changes occur but in differing time frames. Microdevelopment analyzes short-term changes as developmental functions. Individuals and groups function at widely different developmental levels and grow in diverse nonlinear…

Three studies examined whether mathematics can propel the development of physical understanding. In Experiment 1, 10-year-olds solved balance scale problems that used easy-to-count discrete quantities or hard-to-count continuous quantities. Discrete quantities led to age typical performances. Continuous quantities caused performances like those of…

American college students are highly diverse with respect to formal intellectual development. This diversity can present educators with a difficult challenge, especially in fields that depend heavily on mathematics. The Cognitive Development Project at the University of Massachusetts is an attempt to foster the development of formal operational…

This paper presents a study which indicates that accurate performance on a simple conservation task need not be related to congnitive maturity. Twenty adults and 20 third graders were given three verbal problems, each requiring a same-different judgment and an explanation of that judgment. Only 3 adults were able to give correct judgments, while…

Reports the results of a series of experimental studies and a sociodemographic survey designed to determine the relative influence of age and educational experience in the development of cognitive skills as manifested in formal, psychological experiments. (CM)

Examined the development of proportional reasoning by means of a temperature mixture task. Results show the importance of distinguishing between intuitive knowledge and formal computational knowledge of proportional concepts. Provides a new perspective on the relation of intuitive and computational knowledge during development. (GLR)

Three studies to determine the effects of adult models on interrogative strategies of children (ages 6-11) are reviewed. Two issues are analyzed: (1) the comparative effectiveness of various types of modeling procedures for changing rule-governed behaviors, and (2) the interaction between observational learning and the developmental level of the…

This paper describes four research examples of the use of prediction analysis in research. The aim of prediction analysis is to compare a rule as specified by a theory with a reference rule. The first example of prediction analysis in this paper concerns a study of 120 first, second, and third graders' performance on length and weight problems.…

This paper explores the thesis that advances in computer applications and artificial intelligence have important implications for the study of development and learning in psychology. Current approaches to the use of computers as devices for problem solving, reasoning, and thinking--i.e., expert systems and intelligent tutoring systems--are…