Examines a general developmental hypothesis concerned with children's understanding of perceptual experience, memory, intentions, and emotions. It is hypothesized that young children view the mind as passive in relation to the external world and regard external events as determining subjective experience, whereas older children know many ways that…

Examines the relationship between two measures of individual differences in social cognition and the quality of eleventh grade students' persuasive writing. Indicates a significant relationship between interpersonal cognitive complexity, abstractness, and quality of writing, persuasiveness, appropriateness of tone, and level of persuasive strategy…

Based on reanalyses of correlational data obtained from the University of Southern California Aptitudes Research Project, this investigation examined the extent to which two higher order factors of semantic content and symbolic content form Guilford's structure-of-intellect model reflected distinct constructs. (Author/LMO)

Provides evidence for the utility of schema-based frameworks which assume that schemas and scripts organize information, aid in comprehension, and guide information retrieval. (FL)

Applies the analytic technique of maximum likelihood factor analysis to the intercorrelations of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised's subtests as a means for assessing more or less differentiation and integration. (HOD)

Four experiments with college undergraduates examine interactions between linearly separable and nonlinearly separable abstract category structures, different knowledge types, and instructions on classification learning tasks. Implications for independent cue models and interactive cue models are discussed. (LMO)

Using 198 college students, this study investigated the effects on performance of four variables in a concept-learning task. The variables were (1) passive and active learning; (2) contextual specificity and variability; (3) rule-examples sequences; and (4) near and far transfers as critical outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of the…

Investigated the role of "a priori" ideas in planning experiments and data processing leading to inferences. Thirty-one students (ages 11-13) observed a "combustion/candle in a closed container" experiment and were asked to interpret sets of measurements. Findings, among others, show that children preferentially experiment on…

Propositions expressed by students during interviews prior to and after audiovisual instruction served as the basis for Concept Propositional Analysis (CPA) to assess cognitive structure. CPAs for two students are reported and aspects of Ausubelian principles are discussed. The method showed that new learning can be linked to previous…

Interests of preschool children were naturalistically identified through patterns of attention in the classroom and were related to assessing (1) direction of attentional shift, (2) level of recognition, and (3) likelihood of recall. Findings are interpreted in terms of cognitive/affective conceptualization of interest as central figure of…

In this paper, it is argued that the failure of educational research to impact on practice stems from a failure to understand the nature of expertise in teaching, and that traditional models of knowledge transfer can only be effective for those at a relatively limited level of competence. Instead, it is suggested that teachers need to be involved,…

SCALE-UP is an extension of the highly successful IMPEC (Integrated Math, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry) project, one of North Carolina State's curricular reform efforts undertaken as part of the SUCCEED coalition. The authors utilize the interactive, collaboratively based instruction that worked well in smaller class settings and find ways…

This paper summarizes the recent work of the Maryland Physics Education Research Group on analyzing student learning in introductory university physics. This work is carried out in a model of student thinking and learning based on principles from cognitive science. The model permits a better understanding of, and diagnosis for, the state of both…

Using similar research in Britain as a basis, a study in New Zealand explored schema learning in young children. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a curriculum intervention designed to increase the richness and amount of stimulation teachers and parents give 4-year-olds in response to observations of children's…

This paper explores the practical and theoretical implications of work related to modeling teaching. The main concerns are questions of what theories and models of cognitive and behavioral phenomena such as teaching-in-context might look like and what standards should be used to judge work of this sort. (Contains 26 references.) (DDR)