Three studies investigating the emergence and early refinement of intelligent self-correction are described. Forty-one children ranging in age from 18 to 30 months served as subjects. Parents taught their children a hide-and-seek game in which the parent hid a toy in natural locations in the home while the child watched. After a 3- or 5-minute…

This booklet describes two computer programs that were written to provide on-line aid to problem solvers. Both programs were designed for "membership" problems, or those in which there are several English sentences and implicit relationships. The task was to infer a membership structure that is compatible with all the logical constraints.…

To understand the specific differences between technical writing and ordinary writing, it is helpful to consider five definitions cited by W. Earl Britton: (1) technical writing deals with subject matter in science, engineering, and business; (2) it demands a specialized vocabulary, particularly of adjectives and nouns; (3) it involves a tightly…

This study examined the development of young children's ability to solve linear patterning problems and investigated constructs of logical thinking which underlie the hierarachical order of the cognitive processes involved. A total of 252 children ranging in age from 4 through 7 years participated in the study. A range of ability and socioeconomic…

Investigated was the distinction between identity conservation and equivalence conservation in 180 preschool, kindergarten and third grade students. Ss were assigned to one of six different counterbalanced orders of presentation for the conservation task battery. The factors were age, task (identity/equivalence), criterion (judgment only/judgment…

Preference scores were determined for several different groups of students ranging in age from seven to adult. In addition, instruments were administered to determine the cognitive level at which the students were capable of functioning. Comparisons between the students' cognitive level and preferences were made. The results indicated that the…

Combinatorial and implicative operations were studied with tasks which eliminated many complexities found in Piagetian tasks, but which did not alter the logical strategies required by Piaget's task. Task difficulty in relation to information-processing demands of tasks and processing capacities of subjects at three age levels (8.0-10.1 and…

This study sought (1) to discover ways to teach kindergarten children to listen to a rule that defines a concept and then to apply it, and (2) to learn if rule-learning is facilitated when the pupil is required to verbalize the rule while using it. The task used in the study (1) involves deductive reasoning, (2) requires rule utilization rather…

The purpose of thinking is to collect information and to make the best possible use of it. Because of the way the mind works to create fixed concept patterns we cannot make the best use of new information unless we have some means for restructuring the old patterns and bringing them up to date. Our traditional methods of thinking teach us how to…

Twelve groups consisting of 277 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders participated in a study of the effects of teaching ten concepts of logical thinking, on ability to read critically. The two-month program of instruction consisted of a direct oral presentation of the ten selected concepts followed by practice in using the concepts. Analysis of…

In a pilot study of college students' understanding of mathematical induction, the author asked 2,320 students and 152 faculty members to determine whether eight statements were true or false. The difficulty of the statements was analyzed for subgroups of the population. (SD)

Suggests that although Piaget's psychological theory is developmental and dialectical in a general way, the lack of a developed philosophical basis leads to the subordination of a dialectical approach to static, anti-dialectical concepts. Hegel's theory of interaction and contradiction is examined to show that dialectical theory has a precise…

Problems short on computation and long on logical thinking are suggested for development of logical thinking. A set of such problems is presented. (MP)

One method is described for supplementing the assignment of theorems to be proved, involving student grading of purported theorems with alleged proofs for correctness and clarity. (MN)