Introductory students regularly endorse "naïve skepticism" -- unsupported or uncritical doubt about the existence and universality of truth -- for a variety of reasons. Though some of the reasons for students' skepticism can be traced back to the student -- for example, a desire to avoid engaging with controversial material or a desire…

Papers from the proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society were submitted in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers submitted at the conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria, June 14-17, 2016. Volume 2 contains papers submitted at the 4th International Partner Conference of the International Research Centre…

Project of the Institute on School Learning and Individual Differences and The John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, George Peabody College for Teachers.

The purpose of this article is to construct Piaget's contributions to education, focusing on cognitive aspects. Explored are the goals of education: independent inquiry and acquisition of a body of information, passivity in traditional education, and the psychogenetic view of knowledge formation. (SK)

Preschool children were trained to acquire transitivity, conservation, and class inclusion of length via feedback to their judgments. Feedback was found to facilitate the learning of all three concepts. (ST)

Discusses problems that educators face in attempting to emphasize high-level cognitive skills in their curriculum. Identifies four elements of informal learning that guide the creation of these skills, through a comparison of the characteristics of formal and informal learning environments. Notes benefits for development of students' conceptual…

Perspectives regarding the "information-oriented" approach of conservative, traditional philosophy and an approach to philosophy known as "conceptual therapy" are offered. The former emphasizes scholarship, textual explication and criticism, and, in general, a knowledge of the views of traditional thinkers. Philosophy as conceptual therapy seeks…

An examination of the status of teaching mathematics to deaf students showed that teachers ignore the hands-on exploration of objects that promotes conceptualization of basic mathematic principles. An arithmetic teaching strategy is proposed which is activity-based and is derived from Piaget's theory of intellectual development in children.…

This teaching guide suggests practical ideas for encouraging intellectual talent in preschool children. It is part of a series of similar guides, developed by the RAPYHT Project (Retrieval and Acceleration of Promising Young Handicapped and Talented) for educating young gifted/talented handicapped children and gifted children with no handicaps.…

Methods for teaching higher order thinking skills to students with special needs are considered. These include microthinking skills (e.g., classification); critical thinking skills; and major thinking operations (e.g., problem solving, decision making, and conceptualizing). Strategies for teaching individual skills and for incorporating thinking…

In this paper, I draw together a corpus of findings derived from two sources: studies of students using computers to learn mathematics, and research into the use of mathematics in professional practice. Using this as a basis, I map some elements of a theoretical framework for understanding the nature of mathematical knowledge in use, and how it is…

The literature of reading theory and research suggests a number of key factors involved in the comprehension process. In simplest terms, comprehension is the process by which an individual actively generates meaning from some linguistic input. Five factors of reading comprehension have been identified through research: vocabulary knowledge, the…

This booklet offers practical, easy-to-read suggestions for teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents to help them understand intellectual development and intellectual disabilities. The first section highlights some of the factors involved in intellectual development and the importance of being sensitive to different stages of learning. The second…

Psychologist Howard Gardner argues that schools fail because they do not confront often flawed childhood theories about the world that students bring to the classroom. He claims teachers must acknowledge, challenge, and build on such assumptions so students can internalize lessons taught in school and apply them outside the classroom. (SM)

This is the final report of the project entitled "A Study to Determine the Degree of Relationship between Linguistic Concepts and Structures in French as a Mother Tongue and Stages of Psychological Readiness of Students at the Junior and Intermediate Levels." The project's primary aim was to determine the psychological readiness, with…