Examined the effects of Piagetian-like tasks' characteristics on the performance of those tasks by different age group students. Indicates the method of task presentation had an effect only on young students' performance, while numerical content had an effect on the majority of students in all grades. (Author/CW)

Discusses the need to help students develop critical thinking skills, reviews definitions of critical thinking, and argues that bibliographic instruction is an appropriate teaching strategy for developing such skills. An example of an education class in which bibliographic instruction is used in this way is given. (16 notes with references) (CLB)

Reviews research on, and offers definitions for, play and learning in infancy. Discusses the developmental sequence in early exploratory play and learning, individual differences in exploratory play, and the relationship between rearing environments and quality of exploratory play. Discusses implications for planning and implementing infant care…

The performance of 40 hearing and 40 hearing-impaired children, aged two-five years, was compared on a battery of nonverbal tasks and a nonverbal intelligence test. Age significantly affected the results, consistent with a developmental change. In cognitive development, the hearing-impaired children were comparable to same-age hearing children.…

All teachers can understand and meet the educational needs of individual students in the context of their developmental stages through preparation in such teacher education programs as the one at La Salle University (Pennsylvania) where developmental theory is the unifying theme combining training programs for elementary and special education…

Observation of mothers and their two-year-olds (N=10) in routine, free play, and novel discourse settings suggested that object labelling was more varied in natural than in experimental settings. Basic level tokens were less prevalent and subordinate level term usage was more common in the routine and novel contexts. (Author/CB)

Presents theoretical perspectives of change of Benne, Chin, Lewin, and Rogers, and draws out strategies that designers of games, simulations, and workshops may find useful. Highlights include rational/empirical, normative/re-educative, and power/coercive strategies; Lewin's force-field model; and Rogers' stage model. (MBR)

Reports that although the traditional domain of developmental lag models has been dyslexia, this type of model is actually more helpful as an aid to understanding the normal achievement variations found among nondyslexic children. (FL)

Reviews bases for contemporary discontinuity theories of mental development, presents findings that support alternative proposition of continuity and scrutinizes assessment methods from which these continuity results derive. Also offers several models that help explain the continuity findings, and argues that individual differences in mental…

Contrasts a child not ready for school with a child who is developmentally prepared to enter school and argues that if all school systems could administer and interpret the results of a developmental examination, the number of unhappy children, special needs children, and grade overplaced children would be greatly reduced. (HOD)

Maintains that decisions regarding evaluation should be made in relationship to learning principles based on a developmental perspective. Using these principles as a basis, teachers are better able to select appropriate formal and informal evaluation procedures. Each procedure is defined and its limitations are discussed in terms of effectiveness.…

The effects of four major types of expository text on the comprehension performance of 69 third and 69 sixth graders were investigated. Results suggest that knowledge of discourse types underlies effective expository comprehension and that this ability increases as children reach the upper elementary grades. (BS)

Describes a study of mothers' observations of fourth-grade boys' reading habits. The results indicated that the boys' reading did not really decrease as they grew older, but rather, that their interests were expanding into what is considered a "male literacy," which begins to include less and less sharing of reading experiences with their mothers.…

Traces the process of gender identity through the period of development and links it to social competence. Describes three stages--gender awareness, gender orientation, and gender identity--and outlines their characteristics. Discusses implications of this view, especially in relation to Bem's concept of androgyny. (Author/KH)

Observations of four students, from their second through fourth grades, as they evaluated compositions revealed, among other findings, that (1) affective responses tend to dominate quality judgments, (2) the number of criteria children used in arriving at quality judgments increased over time, and (3) evaluation criteria are used in both planning…