An attempt is made to clarify the aims of critical training in academic subjects at the higher education level. Additionally, common motifs of thought in the extensive material of cognitive criticism are considered, and the material itself is synthesized. Attention is also directed to the criteria of essentiality and implications for teaching. Two…

The effects of various questioning strategies on reading comprehension were tested. The subjects, 24 second grade students reading at or slightly above their grade level, were divided into three instructional groups. The strategy group focused on integrating textual material with prior knowledge. The question group got a steady diet of inferential…

Described is a study which represents an attempt to investigate the construct validity and internal consistency of a Test of Logical Thinking, the reliability of the IAR scale, and the relationship between formal reasoning ability and locus of control. (Author/SA)

Previous research has indicated that correlations between Piagetian and psychometric tests and chronological age are influenced by the size of the age range of the sample groups. To examine whether the size of the age range and mean age are related to the size of the correlations between Piagetian and arithmetic tests, Spearman rank-order…

A 64-item analogy test was developed and administered to 55 college students enrolled in a noncredit reading improvement course to assess the effects of an instructional unit in taking analogy tests. The instructional unit was a 35-page self-instructional booklet that described the most common formats of analogy testing, defined eight types of…

WRITTEN TO IMPLEMENT THE PRINCIPLES SET FORTH IN "DESIGN FOR THINKING" (SEE TE 000 457.), THIS BOOK DEALS WITH WORDS AS TOOLS OF THOUGHT AND WITH THE PROBLEM-SOLVING FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE. CHAPTERS ARE ON (1) QUALIFICATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND ABSTRACTION, (2) SIGNS, REPRESENTATIONS, SYMBOLS, AND MATRICES, (3) ANALYSIS (BY CLASSIFICATION,…

Carefully designed questions for classroom discussions can guide students in making judgments and understanding the processes of logical thought. Effective questioning, however, depends on the teacher's awareness of the forms and classifications of inquiries. Any question is made up of two parts: the process stimulus (which indicates the process…

A program for intermediate-grade children (4, 5, and 6) with severe learning disabilities is described. The typical student involved in the program has been unsuccessful in a regular classroom, has had special help with reading, does not fit the criteria for any special education program, and has average or above-average intelligence. The program…

This paper describes a series of experiments and research paradigms designed to investigate language development, specifically semantic, syntactic, and communicative development in children. Included are discussions of two studies of semantic development which examined developmental changes of word meanings. Also discussed are three studies of…

This paper presents a discussion, based on current research, of what can be done to help children achieve the highest level of cognitive development (Piaget's formal operations). The four factors which Piaget found to be involved in cognitive development are discussed in relation to recent research. These factors include: (1) organic growth and…

A series of Piagetian concrete operations period tasks dealing with classificatory concepts was administered to 280 children (40 subjects from each of seven levels--preschool, kindergarten, and first, second, third, fourth, and sixth grades). Significant main effects for age were found for all the tasks. Few significant sex differences were…

This paper presents a structural-developmental model of social cognition and discusses the implications of this approach for social intervention research. This model of social development is concerned with social reasoning and judgment. The basic assumption of this model of social cognition is that the structure of social reasoning develops…

A Piagetian preschool emphasizes the child's active construction of mental images rather than passive association of words and pictures with real objects. The role of the teacher is neither to dictate good behavior nor to transmit ready-made predigested knowledge. Her role is to help the child to control his own behavior and to find things out as…

This yearbook focuses on the teaching of a geometry course emphasizing critical thinking and methods of proof rather than on learning a body of theorems. In the first chapter the problem is defined, and its origin and background are discussed. Next the organization of the experimental situation is described. Chapter 3 gives numerous illustrations…

An experiment was conducted to investigate three topics of current interest in education: critical thinking, programed instruction, and aptitude-treatment interaction. Thirty college students and 31 ninth graders with extreme discrepancies between their verbal and quantitative aptitude scores were taught eight principles of class reasoning by…