Studied 100 adolescents' approaches to problem-solving proofs and reasoning competence tasks. Found that a formal level of reasoning competence is associated with a deductive approach. Results support the notion of a cognitive development progression from an inductive approach to a deductive approach. (ETB)

A research project explored the idea that reasoning develops in distinct phases of thinking as individuals journey from simplistic learning of facts to highly proficient consequence predicting of integrated relationships. These results were derived from a study that examined the thinking processes and problem-solving actions of 13 students and…

Sixty adolescents, stratified by sex and grade level (i.e., 9th, 12th, and college sophomore) participated in an examination of Piaget's suggestion that the formal operations are prerequisite to the development of political idealism, abstract thought and future time perspective in adolescence. Analysis of the cognition data revealed that the…

Babies are active participants in their learning and need to explore a variety of objects. Nurturing relationships support these explorations. Objects are more clearly remembered and understood. Thus, one activity this article suggests doing with a 12-month-old to encourage abstract thinking, is talking about how squeezing the bottle of ketchup…

This paper describes two experiments in which children in grades 1, 3, and 5 were given three kinds of spatial perspective-taking problems to solve as quickly as they could: (1) C problems, solvable only by computation (that is, noting which features of a particular object array were closest to another observer in order to estimate how the array…

Two studies examined the relation between current developmental levels, as estimated by IQ, and proximal levels of development, as estimated by the efficiency of learning and transfer in assisted contexts. Subjects were 8- to ll-year-old children. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (HOD)

This study considers two problems related to cognitive development: "Is development hierarchical?" and "If so, what are the mechanisms involved in the process of development?" Analysis of the results of an experiment lead to differentiation of stages of development, and problem-solving strategies at each level are discussed.…

Developmental patterns in the solution of verbal analogies, especially the recognition of higher-order analogical relations, were traced. The investigation sought to: (1) provide new developmental tests of a componential theory of analogical reasoning; (2) identify strategy changes during the transition from midchildhood (grade 3) to adulthood…

This article describes a problem-solving strategy unit to be used as a supplement to the regular mathematics curriculum at the primary level. Specific teaching steps and examples are given for three developmental stages of thinking: (1) concrete, (2) representational, and (3) abstract. (DB)

This research study was conducted to investigate the interactions of specific student aptitudes with their ability to solve chemistry problems of varying structure and information. Fourteen classroom quizzes were validated and a number of in-task variables were identified for analysis. These variables included: the nature of information given…

A 10-step scale for assessing development of understanding relationships between honesty and kindness was developed and administered to 113 youths. Results indicated that development moved through 3 stages, as youths age 9-12 demonstrated abstract concepts of honesty and kindness; age 13-15 demonstrated simple abstract relations; and age 16-20…

Examined the developmental sequence through which adolescents progress in solving a physics problem (balance beam ratio and proportion) and a social problem (predicting the behavior of a story character). Although most of the 9- through 19-year-olds performed at predictable and similar developmental stages on each task, a minority were more…

Students in Grades six, seven, and eight were asked to integrate existing information and initially unknown answers to prose-related questions for answering superordinate questions. Results suggest that grade level development of hypothetico-deductive skills interacts with instructional prompt levels and that these skills are essential to…

Papers presented at the 1980 National Conference on Reasoning, Piaget, and Higher Education are presented which address the implications of Piaget's research on the teaching of reasoning skills in higher education. Contents include the following: "Piaget: An Agenda, Not an Answer for the 80s," by Catherine M. Warrick; "Project…

This study of Piagetian formal reasoning in seventh grade students reports the relationships between four aspects of the ability to control variables in an experiment and the relationships between those four aspects and other constructs. The four aspects of the ability to control variables identified are: (1) set up a controlled experiment, (2)…