The role of content in formal operations tasks was explored in research that systematically varied the content of tasks and children's performance by developmental level and socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects were 110 Icelandic 12-year-olds who had entered a longitudinal study when they were 7 years old. Two extreme ability groups of children…

This research hypothesized that preformal-operational children (before age 11) can improve their ability to write persuasive essays at an age earlier than Jean Piaget's developmental stage model would predict. A Vygotskian social interactionist approach, which claims that adult intervention can help children achieve what may have seemed beyond…