Background: Key to optimizing Computational Thinking (CT) instruction is a precise understanding of the underlying cognitive skills. Román-González et al. (2017) reported unique contributions of spatial abilities and reasoning, whereas arithmetic was not significantly related to CT. Disentangling the influence of spatial and numerical skills on CT…

The present study evaluated: (1) the effects of two training programs designed for promoting Theory of Mind (ToM) skills in children aged 7/8; and (2) the relations between second-order recursive thinking (II-order-RT), advanced-ToM (Adv_ToM) and metacognition. Ninety-one 7- to 8-year-old children were assigned to one of three training conditions:…

This study investigated the roles of different executive function (EF) components (inhibition, shifting, and working memory) in 2-step arithmetic word problem solving. A sample of 139 children aged 8 years old and regularly attending the 3rd grade of primary school were tested on 6 EF tasks measuring different EF components, a reading task and a…

Problems in teaching language communication to the congenitally deaf child are discussed in this essay, and then suggestions are offered for providing mental development, development of verbal and associative memory, sensory training, and training in abstract reasoning. (LBH)

The effectiveness of coaching active reasoning of students with learning disabilities was studied with 63 grade 4 and 5 students. Students in the coaching condition outperformed students in the two comparison conditions on immediate and one-week delayed tests of factual information and explanations. (Author/SW)

This study compares the effects of Montessori methods of instruction and methods of direct verbal instruction. Montessori methods rely on the ability of the child to learn through physical interaction with inanimate objects and minimize verbal behavior by teacher and student, while the direct verbal method works mainly through language use, both…

The focus of this paper is on some of the difficulties students experience in learning from texts and in solving other types of academic problems, because of their failure to distinguish between skills needed for everyday thinking and those needed for academic thinking. The paper discusses the types of processing problems children experience when…

The purpose of this study was threefold: to determine whether adding a mnemonic to systematically designed instruction would improve verbal retention, to establish whether retention is better for concrete or abstract information, and to determine whether mental imagery or verbal elaboration is more effective for learning concrete or abstract…

Well-known questioning strategies, built on question classification systems, are examined. Types of question classification systems are identified as: "hierarchical," which are sequential and cumulative; "non-hierarchical," which are based on elements which should not be rank ordered; systems which are "context-bound" to specifics; and…

Effective intervention strategies for learning disabled students should recognize such cognitive deficiencies as weaknesses in attention, memory deficits, and problems in generalizing and abstracting information. Approaches which emphasize enhanced learning processes include: self-monitoring; repetition and deliberate instruction in control…

The roles of (1) the sequence of instruction and (2) cognitive ability variables were investigated using a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) course on an imaginary science of "Xenograde systems." A rationale for an information processing task analysis was developed to overcome the deficiencies of other analytic methods. The new method was found…

Imagery use in high school mathematics classrooms was studied. A visual image was defined as a mental scheme depicting visual or spatial information, but this definition was not spelled out to teachers or students, in order to learn what they meant by the concept. Subjects were 13 high school teachers and 54 of their students interviewed over 3…