This study was designed to examine the relationship between conceptions of ability and understandings of the meaning of effort. Participants practiced a novel task and completed an ability conceptions questionnaire prior to instruction and a meaning of effort survey after practicing the task. The majority of participants believed in the efficacy…

To determine the effects of pencil shape and size on motor accuracy and pencil posture of eight-year-old children, a study randomly assigned 54 third grade school children to one of three experimental conditions: (1) using a standard 2B pencil, (2) using a 1.5 cm thick 2B pencil, and (3) using the standard 2B pencil with the attachment of an…

This study investigated the effects of novelty on young children's exploration of commonplace, 3-dimensional objects. The exploration of novel and familiar objects was compared and the pattern of the exploration of the novel object over a period of time was examined in order to test two hypotheses: (1) that novel objects elicit more exploration…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO FIND OUT WHETHER SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES IN INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT ARE PRESENT IF (1) CHILDREN FROM SOCIALLY DISORGANIZED SLUM FAMILIES ARE COMPARED WITH CHILDREN FROM STABLE, LOW INCOME AND MIDDLE INCOME FAMILIES, (2) THE PIAGET OBJECT SCALE, A NEW MEASURE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON PIAGET'S SENSORIMOTOR…

The ability of two and three-year-old children to comprehend the prepositions in, on, and under was tested. Results suggest that the young child's comprehension of locative instructions involves an interaction between aspects of the instruction's word meanings, word order, and the child's understanding of the context. (Author/MV)

An interaction analysis observation instrument, with categories found in the definition of "executive competence" by Wenar and related to R. White's effectance motivation, was used to observe 37 toddlers with their mothers. (SB)

Two experiments using college students established links between desired knowledge about objects and hand movements during haptic object exploration. Subjects were either blindfolded or had their hands restrained, while performing matching tasks. Hand movements were studied during performance of exploratory procedures. (GDC)

Recent work on the development of the perceptual information-seeking function of the hand in relation to its motor-executive function is reviewed. (PCB)

Tested infants in their second year with a box task to determine whether they would show a hand preference in solutions involving complete differentiation of roles for the two hands. (HOD)

Compares the manipulative exploration of objects of 30 nine-month-old preterm infants with that of 20 nine-month-old full-term infants. Although no difference between the preterms and the full terms was noted, a high-risk preterm subgroup manipulated objects less. A relationship was found between manipulative exploration at nine months and later…

Investigates the exploratory behavior of young children as it relates to individual differences in curiosity, the novelty of the objects explored, and the interactive style employed by an adult experimenter. (Author/MP)

Use of manipulatives is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for meaningful learning. Provides some incidents in support of the argument. Lists 14 references. (YP)

Studied the early development of exploratory behavior in 99 infants of 2-5 months. Results show that there are significant changes in spontaneous multimodal exploration of a novel object between 2 and 5 months. (RJC)

Comparison of 40 children with Down's syndrome and typically developing children (matched for mental age) found that the children with Down's syndrome appeared less engaged in a task, as indicated by shorter sequences of goal directed behavior and higher rates of toy rejection. They also displayed less causality pleasure with object exploration…

Toddlers with Down's syndrome (n=42) were presented with situations in which the primary focus alternated between an object stimulus and a social stimulus. The experimental subjects monitored their environment in the same manner as did the 25 control subjects (matched for mental age) during object mastery but had a more focused attention style…