The Basic School Network, Housed at James Madison University in Virginia, plans lessons based on Ernest L. Boyer's Core Commonalities--a system of eight themes underlying all human experience aimed at renewing early childhood education. Commonalities include the life cycle, use of symbols, membership in groups, sense of time and space, response to…

Observations of 22 preschool children with cognitive delays during home-based play, made approximately 13 months apart, found no statistically significant change for the proportion of time spent in various categorical play behaviors. Children's relative ranking on play sophistication also remained stable. Significant changes were found in…

Theoretical issues regarding cognitive development and psychosocial development are reviewed. The possible relationships between identity statuses and Perry positions and the effects of gender and educational level on those developmental processes are studied. Results, implications for practice, issues in program development, and recommendations…

People experience mental incongruity when there is a discrepancy between a standard and their own experience of a situation or behavior. The influence of adolescents' standards and mental incongruity on the development of their identity (N=706) was studied in both work and relational domains using structural equation models. (Author/EMK)

A longitudinal study of 23 colleges and universities sought to estimate the impacts of on- and off-campus work on standardized measures of student cognitive development across three years. Findings suggest that, for the most part, work that does not exceed 15 or 20 hours a week does not seriously affect student cognitive development. (SLD)

Describes case study groups, a method to help teachers and other school personnel see what developmental and adjustment issues students face. Describes how case study group members collect information from a range of sources, code the information into behavioral anecdotes, spot gaps in information, and select new experiences that might help…

Examined the moral and ecological reasoning of second, fifth, and eighth graders regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Found that children understood negative effects of the spill, cared that harm occurred to shoreline and marine life, and thought it violated a moral obligation. Fifth and eighth graders used a greater proportion of anthropocentric…

Suggests that the teaching/learning/research process should be rethought of as a collaborative social learning for constructivism to be meaningful in science education. Includes perspectives on George Kelly's personal construct psychology and Glaserfeld's radical constructivism. (AIM)

Examined validity of use of human figure drawing to evaluate cognitive development status using Piagetian tasks with 7- to 11-year-olds. Found that scores for children's drawings of a man and a woman correlated significantly with mental imaging, conservation of mass, and conservation of length, suggesting the possibility of finding patterns to…

Comparison of matched pairs of elementary students in mainstream and special education showed that, after 2 years (n=504), students with disabilities achieved more in math in regular education; motivation was higher in special education. After 4 years (n=216), those in regular education had progressed more academically than those in special…

Introduces the concepts of online and offline sampling and highlights the role of online sampling in agent-based models of learning and development. Compares the strengths of each approach for modeling particular developmental phenomena and research questions. Describes a recent agent-based model of infant causal perception. Discusses limitations…

A study involving 18 individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) (ages 9-21) and 67 controls found total score on the Biber Cognitive Estimation Test for both individuals with PDD and controls progressed consistently with mental age, development being the most dramatic around the mental age of 8 years. (Contains references.)…

Reports on a longitudinal study using the computer-based cognitive assessment system CoPS, and considers the applicability of this system in the early identification of cognitive strengths and limitations that affect the development of reading. Concludes that short-term memory is an important predictor variable for reading, in addition to the more…

Written by a father of a child with autism, this article discusses the child's symptoms, the diagnosis of autism, and the child's behavior problems. It describes the use of different types of computer software that has enabled the child to experience a series of cognitive jumps. (CR)

A study examined the executive functioning, in particular the attentional set-shifting deficits in Australian individuals ages 6-20 with high-functioning autism (n=12) and Asperger's disorder (n=12). Results indicate that individuals with autism had a deficiency in shifting from local to global processing, however, this was not observed in…