This issue, part of an annual series prepared for Maryland educators, presents the problem solving aspect of learning behavior by reviewing some of the variables which affect how individuals confront intellectual problems. Selected studies and a bibliography which are helpful in developing instructional methods which take into account individual…

Five modes and strategies for improving cognition in reading are discussed. As defined by the author, cignition concerns recognition of knowledge and development of intellectual skills and abilities. The five points discussed are: (1) cognitive skills can be arranged in a hierarchy; (2) to teach students at or near the apex of the hierarchy,…

This article summarizes an investigation of factors manifested by 6th grade students in four Detroit metropolitan area schools who achieved on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at levels significantly above and below the average. The study sample consisted of 80 students with scores divided equally above and below the average. Instruments measured…

The experimental program in structured activities in perceptual training was said to have two main objectives: to train children in retention of visual and auditory images and to increase the children's motivation to learn. Eight boys and girls participated in the program for two hours daily for a 10-week period. The age range was 7.0 to 12.10…

Reviewed was research on the development of the cognitive skills of language, concept formation, and arithmetic in children handicapped by blindness, mental retardation, or deafness. Research on the language skills of the blind included a rejection of sensory compensation, while research on language in the retarded was seen to focus on linguistic…

Piaget's concepts of knowledge seen as a result of active interaction between the child and his environment, and motivation, seen as intrinsic to intellectual functioning, have implications for the development of preschool programs. A preschool program must be action-oriented if the child is to learn to "know" and must offer an…

A dissertation proposal involved a study to observe spontaneous behavior of children in interaction with materials in order to gain understanding of the factors that influence classificatory and imaginative behavior in free play. Children at two levels of ability in terms of classification skills were observed in interaction with materials at two…

Mental ages for normals' and for retardates' achievement on 21 Piagetian measures of reasoning are presented in this exploratory longitudinal study. Before standardization data can be provided, a study which involves a more extended sample is necessary. It is, however, suggested that: (1) Normals' (IQ 90-110) transition from concrete to formal…

In Piaget's dynamic conception of the child's cognitive growth, the transition from sensory-motor intelligence to the developmental stage of representational intelligence occurs during 5 to 7 years of age. The development proceeds from undifferentiation to differentiation, from unintentional to intentional, from unintelligent to intelligent, and…

The Parent Involvement Program was designed to help low-income disadvantaged mothers teach their young children during the infant and toddler stages at home to help prepare them for later school entrance. The first of two sessions began in the spring, 1972, with 19 mothers participating. A tutor visited each mother for one hour each week to…

The development and evaluation of a curriculum that presents moral dilemmas for primary grade children are discussed. Using the method of sound filmstrips, a set of dilemmas was constructed for stimulating development in primary grade children in the following ways: (1) they present dramatic stories which are enjoyable and involving to watch for…

Twenty-four nursery school children ranging from 3.11 years to 5.11 years were tested in counting objects that varied in similarity and contiguity. Objects were presented in three arrangements: arrangements composed of subgroups of contiguous identical objects; arrangements without subgroups; and arrangements composed of subgroups of discontiguous…

The purposes of this study were to determine (1) whether there is a developmental sequence in children's acquisition of metalinguistic abilities and (2) whether the acquisition of these abilities is related to Piagetian operations. Word awareness served as the measure of metalinguistic ability. An attempt was also made to determine whether the…

The Mother-Child Home Program was designed to modify the early cognitive experience of preschool disadvantaged children by "intervening" with a series of verbal stimulation activities planned to raise the child's measured IQ. Intervention was timed to occur with early speech development and within the context of family relationships. The…

Preceded by three studies of preschool children, this research compared the thinking abilities of 5-year-old white and black children in relation to certain environmental factors. All of the 2413 children were chosen to conform with the earlier studies by having approximately one-fourth with mothers having graduated from college, one-half…