Fuzzy trace theory explains why children do not have to use rules of logic or premise information to infer transitive relationships. Instead, memory of the premises and performance on transitivity tasks is explained by a verbatim ability and a gist ability. Until recently, the processes involved in transitive reasoning and memory of the premises…

Based on a synthesis of the literature in inductive reasoning, a framework for prescribing and assessing mathematics inductive reasoning of primary school students was formulated and validated. The major constructs incorporated in this framework were students' cognitive abilities of finding similarities and/or dissimilarities among attributes and…

"Exploring" is a magazine of science, art, and human perception, produced by Exploratorium in collaboration with other participating museums. This issue focuses on puzzles and problem solving. Brain teasers, puzzles, and the strategies for solving them are included. Features include: (1) "Homework Assignment #3" (Paul Doherty);…

Describes a study in which fifth-graders learned how to operate electronic calculators and used them on a mathematics achievement test. The results indicated that the children with calculators outperformed the control children on the straight computational problems but did more poorly than the controls on thought problems. (JMB)

Article focused on childhood experiences for building concepts which promote the growth of logical thinking and learning about the natural world. (Author/RK)

Games of analysis or logical thinking are important reinforcers of various mathematics topics with children, and here the author suggests some games you might use. (Editor/RK)

This study examines 4-year-olds' ability to search and find a missing object, a complex problem-solving task dependent on remembering events, logically deducing the possible subset of hiding places, and implementing situation-dependent search strategies. Sixty-four children recruited from two day care centers in a small midwestern city searched…

Piagetian research provides the focus of this article in which Professor Thomas C. O'Brien interviews Professor Hermina Sinclair. Aspects of children's thinking that prefigure scientific theory construction are described and the influence of schooling in inhibiting or suppressing a theory-building human tendency is briefly discussed. The…

Two studies designed to analyze the role of reflection in logical deductive reasoning were conducted. (Editor)

This study of the understanding of the words "and" and "or" in children, ages 2-7 1/2, indicates that "and" is used to express enumeration, and "or" to express alternatives, and that most children's responses are correct at age 4 and beyond. Differences between the linguistic and logical meaning of connection are discussed. (Author/LLK)

The ability to make relational discriminations, i.e., to solve problems by responding to the relationships between cues rather than to the absolute properties of individual cues, is examined. The laboratory analogy of this type of problem is referred to as a conditional discrimination problem. Mr. Grogg empirically demonstrates the difference…

The purpose of the study was to determine whether kindergarten children could perform successfully on Piagetian class inclusion tasks and whether their performance was a function of the types of conditions under which the task was presented. Children were asked to classify items based on a physical attribute not visually perceptible (painted…

The primary aim of these five technical papers is to indicate aspects of proof theory which may be of use in the study of non-numerical computing. The three main papers are entitled: "Checking of Computer Programs;""Consistency Proofs and Programs for Translators;" and "Experiments with Computers on the Complexity of Non-numerical computations."…

This study was designed to serve several purposes: (1) to determine the level of logical thinking in first term college freshmen of both sexes; (2) to find if their level rose during the first year and especially if it increased as a result of brief intervention aimed at raising the level; and (3) to examine the relationship between logical…