While exploring the development of Communication and Learning Aids in all venues, particularly the effect of music on learning, several different tracks were followed. The therapeutic use of music is for relaxation and stress reduction, which apparently helps the body to access and discharge deeply locked-in material. The Mozart Effect track which…

Previous research demonstrates an uneven pattern of cognitive abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study examined whether this uneven pattern exists within the nonverbal domain in young children. We hypothesized relative strengths in perceptual abilities and weaknesses in nonverbal conceptual abilities in preschoolers…

According to the spatial registration hypothesis, the representation of stimulus location is automatically encoded during perception and it can interact with a more abstract linguistic representation. We tested this hypothesis in two experiments, using the semantic judgements of words. In the first experiment, words for animals that either fly or…

One of the important nutrients during pregnancy is vitamin A or related compounds called retinoids. Although it is well-known that vitamin A deficiency may be detrimental to foetal development, overdosage of retinoids might cause developmental defects, particularly affecting the central nervous system development of the foetus, causing hindbrain…

The location of an object is often described by spatially relating it to a known landmark. The spatial terms used in such descriptions can provide various types of information. For example, projective terms such as "above" indicate direction but not distance, whereas proximal terms such as "near" indicate distance but not direction. Previous…

Patterning is an essential skill in early mathematics learning, particularly in the development of spatial awareness, sequencing and ordering, comparison, and classification. This includes the ability to identify and describe attributes of objects and similarities and differences between them. Patterning is also integral to the development of…

This study compared number sense instruction in three first-grade traditional mathematics textbooks and one reform-based textbook ("Everyday Mathematics" [EM]). Textbooks were evaluated with regard to their adherence to principles of effective instruction (e.g., big ideas, conspicuous instruction). The results indicated that traditional textbooks…

The aim of the present study was to assess the findings, reported in earlier studies, that individuals with autism spectrum disorders process visuo-spatial tasks faster than typically developing control persons. The participants in the present study were children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA) (N =…

Letter names play an important role in early literacy. Previous studies of letter name learning have examined the Latin alphabet. The current study tested learners of Hebrew, comparing their patterns of performance and types of errors with those of English learners. We analyzed letter-naming data from 645 Israeli children who had not begun formal…

Within large scale educational assessment agencies in the UK, there has been a shift towards assessors marking digitally scanned copies rather than the original paper scripts that were traditionally used. This project uses extended essay examination scripts to consider whether the mode in which an essay is read potentially influences the…

Background: The study investigated a small range of cognitive abilities, related to visual-spatial intelligence, in adolescents. This specific range of cognitive abilities was termed "graphic abilities" and defined as a range of abilities to visualise and think in three dimensions, originating in the domain of visual-spatial…

In this article, the authors present a laboratory exercise in data collection and statistical analysis in biological space using clustered stomates on leaves of "Begonia" plants. The exercise can be done in middle school classes by students making their own slides and seeing imprints of cells, or at the high school level through collecting data of…

"Art practice as research" casts artmaking as inquiry--as a particularly experiential and constructivist process of learning in which imaginative synthesis and creative image making are ways of constructing knowledge. This article explores how artmaking functions as research through the creation of visual images, especially images that picture…

Cubic symmetry is used to build the other four Platonic solids and some formalism from classical geometry is introduced. Initially, the approach is via geometric construction, e.g., the "golden ratio" is necessary to construct an icosahedron with pentagonal faces. Then conventional elementary vector algebra is used to extract quantitative…

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate how three different types of inhibitory control--interference control within task, interference control outside task, and prepotent response inhibition--and two types of working memory--verbal and spatial--would relate to early symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)…