The purpose of this study was to compare performances by Japanese and American children on the Matching Familiar Figures Test, the primary measure of cognitive tempo. Data on more than 3400 Japanese and American children (approximately half male, half female) were used. Factorial analyses of variance revealed significant age x nationality…

Children's self-control behavior in motor and cognitive tasks was examined in a series of two studies in which modeling and self-regulatory mechanisms were varied to assess the influence of each. In the first study, 6-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children individually played a 20-trial game of 'Simon Says' (involving activation and inhibition trials)…

The relationships among the perception, representation, and construction of series are examined within a model of the acquisition of seriation abilities. The model is then related to two experiments with three-, four- and five-year-olds. The key feature of the model is the delineation of parallels among developmental changes in three arenas:…

This paper describes a series of studies which examine the early development of recall. Subjects were children about 2 1/2 and 5 years of age. Recall was tested on nine-item lists which were either composed of three objects from each of three conceptual categories or nine objects from nine different conceptual categories. Age differences were…

Naming tasks were used in two studies to test for conceptual organization in young children by comparing the latencies for naming objects in primed vs. non-primed conditions. In the primed condition, a taxonomic category was primed by prior activation of a coordinate member of the same category. In Study 1, 54 kindergarten children were randomly…

This paper outlines the syntactic structures which represent a stage in the cognitive development of children, and focusses on an aspect of cognitive development known as conservation. The cognitive components of conservation are presented as the primordial base for the set of syntactic structures which map or mirror them. Piaget proposed four…

Six explanations of political ideological complexity and finds the social, structural, political activity, socialization, and functional explanations to be unsupported by the data. Both education and political information explanations are confirmed, the former being favored. Ideological complexity changes with education and greater political…

Research by various disciplines into human consciousness can illuminate, and be illuminated by, literary study. (JH)

Discusses the methodology, materials, and results of teaching critical thinking to 20 third graders. (RL)

Head Start preschoolers on a Papago reservation in Arizona were subjects of two studies of the effects of televised instruction and directed participation on teaching enumeration and conservation skills. Television instruction was most effective when used with active directed participation and corrective feedback. (Author/JEG)

The objectives of minority studies programs are similar to those of general education. Aside from its cultural-transmission function, minority studies has two missions connected with learning: the development of cognitive and affective skills; and maintenance of the essence of ethnic content, even when it is offered in separated autonomous…

Based on a study of 50 children between the ages of 3;0 and 5;6, the reasons for the differential difficulty of various forms of "who,""why,""when," and "how" questions are postulated. (EJS)

Describes the Concept Learning Project (CLP) that investigates how children in Southeast Asia Learn mathematics and science concepts based on the thinking levels of children, using Piagetian theory. Results of field trials in Thailand are presented. (HM)

The differing functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain are discussed and means of developing interaction between the two are described. (JD)

Several early and contemporary theories of the role of play and make-believe are discussed. Studies which have examined the antecedents of social class differences in the young child's play are also explored and their implications for later development and education are analyzed. (Author/AM)